Years are needed ere the sunshine, working on the primal rock,
Yemen's blood-stone or Badakhshán's rubies can incarnadine.
Months are needed ere, by earth and water fed, the cotton-seed
Can provide the martyr's shroud, or clothe the fair with rai-
ment fine.
Days are needed ere a handful of the wool from back of sheep
Can provide the ass's halter, or the hermit's gabardine.
Lives are needed ere, by Nature's kindly fostering, the child
Can become a famous poet, or a scholar ripe and fine.
Ages needs must pass before a Bu'l-Wafá or an Uways
*
Can arise from Adam's loins to glorify the Might Divine.”
The following little ghazal, or ode, is also his (p. 168 of the lithographed edition):—
“That heart which stands aloof from pain and woe
No seal or signature of Love can show:
Thy Love, thy Love I chose, and as for wealth,
If wealth be not my portion, be it so!
For wealth, I ween, pertaineth to the World;
Ne'er can the World and Love together go!
So long as Thou dost dwell within my heart
Ne'er can my heart become the thrall of Woe.”
Here is another specimen of Saná'í's lyrical verse (p. 206):—
| “Darling, my heart I gave to thee— | Good-night! I go. |
| Thou know'st my heartfelt sympathy— | Good-night! I go. |
| Should I behold thee ne'er again | 'Tis right, 'tis right; |
| I clasp this Hour of Parting tight— | Good-night! I go. |
| With raven tress and visage clear, | Enchantress dear, |
| Hast made my daylight dark and drear: | Good-night! I go. |
| O Light of Faith thy Face, thy hair | Like Doubt's Despair! |
| Both this and that yield torment rare— | Good-night! I go. |
| Therefore 'twixt Fire and Water me | Thou thus dost see, |
| Lips parched and dry, tear-raining eye: | Good-night! I go.” |
These specimens, selected almost at random, display both grace and originality; and there are probably few unexplored mines of Persian poetry which would yield to the diligent seeker a richer store of gems.
Abú Bakr (or Abu'l-Maḥásin) Azraqí, son of Isma'íl the bookseller of Herát, in whose house Firdawsí is stated by the Azraqí. author of the Chahàr Maqàla * to have concealed himself for six months after he had incurred the anger of Sulṭán Maḥmúd of Ghazna, is best known (thanks to Jámí and Dawlatsháh) for the somewhat dubious literary performance * which, in conjunction with the happily-improvised quatrain given in chapter i (p. 39 supra), is said to have secured him the favour and patronage of the Seljúq Prince Ṭughánsháh. He was famous in his own day as a qaṣìda-writer and panegyrist, and is placed by 'Awfí (vol. ii, p. 88 of my edition) only a little below the younger but more eminent Mu'izzí. Panegyrics, however grateful they may be to those whose praises they celebrate, and however much they may enrich their authors, for obvious reasons seldom interest posterity to the same extent as verse which appeals to the human heart for all time; and so it happens that Azraqí, like many of his more famous rivals, is to most Persian readers little more than a name, and that copies of his collected poems are exceedingly rare. Dawlatsháh, though he consecrates to Azraqí a separate notice (pp. 72-73 of my edition), cites of his verse only the quatrain to which allusion has been already made; but 'Awfí (vol. ii, pp. 86-104) quotes several long poems of his in full; and another long qaṣìda which he composed in praise of Amíránsháh, one of the Seljúq Princes of Kirmán, will be found in Muḥammad Ibráhím's History of that dynasty (ed. Houtsma, pp. 14-16). As we possess hardly anything of Azraqí's work except qaṣìdas, and as these are very difficult to translate, and, as a rule, unreadable when translated, I shall follow Dawlatsháh's example and pass on to another poet.
Mas'úd-i-Sa'd-i-Salmán * (i.e., Mas'úd the son of Sa'd the son of Salmán) deserves to be remembered, if for no other reason, for Mas'úd-i-Sa'd-iSalmán. some original and pathetic verses which he wrote while imprisoned in the Castle of Náy by command of Sulṭán Ibráhím of Ghazna, who suspected him of intriguing with the Seljúq King Maliksháh. Of these verses the author of the Chahàr Maqàla, who records the story (pp. 72-75 of the separate reprint of my translation), says that, whenever he read them, his skin would creep and his eyes fill with tears at their eloquence and pathos. He quotes two of these Ḥabsiyyát, or “Songs of Captivity,” of which the first, a quatrain, is as follows:—
“O King, 'tis Maliksháh should wear thy chain,
That royal limbs might fret with captive's pain,
But Sa'd-i-Salmán's offspring could not hurt,
Though venomous as poison, thy domain!”
The second fragment runs thus:—
“Naught served the ends of statesmen save that I,
A helpless exile, should in fetters lie,
Nor do they deem me safe within their cells
Unless surrounded by ten sentinels,
Which ten sit ever by the gates and walls,
While ever one unto his comrade calls:
‘Ho, there! On guard! This cunning rogue is one
To fashion bridge and steps from shade and sun!’ *
Why, grant I stood arrayed for such a fight,
And suddenly sprang forth, attempting flight,
Could elephant or raging lion hope,
Thus cramped in prison-cage, with ten to cope?
Can I, bereft of weapons, take the field,
Or make of back or bosom bow and shield?”
The King, however, remained obdurate till his death, and Mas'úd languished in captivity for twelve years.
The following poem by Mas'úd is given by Dawlatsháh (pp. 47-48 of my edition):—
“When I saw with eyes discerning that this World's the Home
of Woe,
And that o'er the best and noblest Death his cerement doth
throw,
And that Fate, false fríend, to cheat me and to rob me did
propose,
Then from off Ambition's sick-bed wholly cured, thank God, I
rose;
To the drug-shop of Repentance hastened, and did there be-
seech
Tonic medicines to give me strength to practise what I preach.
Therefore now this tongue, which lately sang the praise of
earthly Kings,
Unto God, the King Eternal, humble praise as tribute brings;
And my voice, retuned, melodious with a newer, nobler tale,
In the Garden of the Prophet hath become a nightingale;
And the glorious apparel, and the silken robes of yore,
Now a wider-seeing wisdom puts away for evermore.
Five yards of wool or cotton are sufficient to contain
A body free from vain desires, a calm untroubled brain.
Long while the praise and service of princes was my care;
To God I now will offer my service and my prayer!”
Dawlatsháh adds that Mas'úd was a native of Gurgán, and his father Sa'd, according to Dr. Ethé (p. 256 of his article in the Grundriss) was in the service of the Ziyárid princes of that little kingdom. “Men of letters and poets of distinction,” adds the Persian biographer, “have a high opinion of his verse, so that Falakí [of Shírwán], while lauding his own genius, thus alludes to Mas'úd's poetry:—
“Had Mas'úd such cunning in verse as is mine, from the Land
of the Dead
Sa‘d-i-Salmán, his father, would come, and blessings invoke on
his head.’”
The poet's death took place either in A.D. 1121, or, more probably, in A.D. 1131.
Abú Ṭáhir al-Khátúní is chiefly remarkable as the author
of what must at present be regarded as the oldest Biography of
Abú Ṭáhir
al-Khátúní.
Persian poets of which we possess any definite
record, though unhappily the work itself is no
longer known to exist. It is twice referred to
by Dawlatsháh (pp. 29 and 58 of my edition), who cites it as
authority for two of his statements, but if he really had access
to the book it is surprising that he did not make greater use
of it, and it seems probable that he only quotes it at second
hand. Ḥájji Khalífa also mentions it in his great bibliography
(ed. Flügel, vol. vi, p. 152, No. 13,026), adding that it was
written in Persian, but omitting the date of the author's death,
which he was presumably unable to discover. Mention is
also made of al-Khátúní in several places in al-Bundárí's
History of the Seljùqs (ed. Houtsma, pp. 89, 105-108, 110,
113). Thence we learn that he wrote against one of Muḥam-