Analysis of Ch 02 The Morals Of Dervishes Story 23

Sa di 1210 (Shiraz) – 1291 (Shiraz)



A man had by his sins forfeited the divine favour but the lamp of grace nevertheless so shone upon his path that it guided him into the circle of religious men and, by the blessing of his association with dervishes, as well as by the example of their righteousness, the depravities of his character were transmuted into virtues and he refrained from lust and passion. But the tongues of the malevolent were lengthened with reference to his character, lleging that it was the same as it had ever been and that his abstinence and piety were spurious.

By apology and penitence one may be saved from the wrath of God  
           But cannot be saved from the tongues of men.  

He could no longer bear the reviling tongues and complained to the pir of the Tariqat. The sheikh wept and said: ‘How wilt thou be able to be sufficiently grateful for this divine favour that thou art better than the people imagine?’

How long wilt thou say: ‘The malevolent and envious  
           Are searching out the defects of my humble self.  
           Sometimes they arise to shed my blood.  
           Sometimes they sit down to curse me.’  
           To be good and to be in spoken of by the people  
           Is better than to be bad and considered good by them.  
           Look at me whom the good opinion of our contemporaries deems to be  
           perfect whereas I am imperfection itself.  
           If I were doing what I speak  
           I would be of good conduct and a devotee.  
           Verily I am veiled from the eyes of my neighbours  
           But Allah knows my secret and my overt concerns.  
           The door is locked to the access of people  
           That they may not spread out my faults.  
           What profiteth a closed door? The Omniscient  
           Knows what I conceal or reveal.


Scheme A XX X ABXCDXCBXCAXDXXX
Poetic Form
Metre 01111110000111011100111011111101010101010101010110010111111001011100011110001011001011101010110010001011001110011110111110101110001000100 1010001111110111 1101110111 111101011001101101011011111101101001011011111101010010 11111001000100 110101011101 011011111 01111111 11101101011010 11011110010111 1111010101100100111 01011101001 11010111 11111010001 1111101111 1101110010101 0111101110 11111111 110110010 11101101
Characters 1,839
Words 304
Sentences 16
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 1, 2, 1, 16
Lines Amount 20
Letters per line (avg) 64
Words per line (avg) 15
Letters per stanza (avg) 322
Words per stanza (avg) 75
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:31 min read
121

Sa di

Saadi Shirazi was a major Persian poet and prose write of the medieval period. more…

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