Chapter VI: Story of the Pious Sick Man
In one of the pious an ague began ;Some one said, " Ask conserve from a certain rich man !"He answered, " The harshness of dying, oh son !Is better than scowls from a sour-visaged one."Of that person's conserve, the wise man did not eat,Who had shown him a vinegar face from conceit.Do not follow whatever your heart may desire!For tending the body abates your soul's fire.Inordinate appetite makes a man low ;Do not show it affection, if wisdom you know !If whatever may be its desire, you should eat,From the changes of Time, disappointment you'll meet.If the store of the stomach is always kept hot,Misfortune arises when nought can be got.The hue of your face disappears in distress,When in plentiful times you your stomach oppress.The man always eating, the stomach's load bears ;If he eats not, he carries a burden of cares.The stomach's slave, greatly abashed you will find;A void stomach is better, I think, than void mind.
Words in this poem
- disappointment n.
- The act of disappointing, or the state of being disappointed; defeat or failure of expectation or hope; miscarriage of design or plan; frustration. [Cf. F. désappointement.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter VI: Story of the Pious Sick Man is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Garden of Fragrance: being a complete translation of the Bostan of Sadi from the original Persian into English verse, by G. S. Davie (London: Kegan Paul, Trench and Co., 1882), Internet Archive, the G. S. Davie translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Saadi, Chapter VI: Story of the Pious Sick Man, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/6-4.html, id L29671.
Form and metre
Chapter VI: Story of the Pious Sick Man is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in anapaestic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDDEECCFFGGHHII beganA · manA · sonB · oneB · eatC · conceitC · desireD · fireD · lowE · knowE · eatC · meetC · hotF · gotF · distressG · oppressG · bearsH · caresH · findI · mindI
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In one of the pious an ague began ; | 11 | ····/˘·/˘˘/ |
| Some one said, " Ask conserve from a certain rich man !" | 12 | ····˘/··/˘·· |
| He answered, " The harshness of dying, oh son ! | 12 | ·/˘˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Is better than scowls from a sour-visaged one." | 12 | ·/˘····/˘/˘· |
| Of that person's conserve, the wise man did not eat, | 12 | ··/˘˘/······ |
| Who had shown him a vinegar face from conceit. | 12 | ·····/˘˘··˘/ |
| Do not follow whatever your heart may desire! | 13 | ··/˘·/˘···˘/˘ |
| For tending the body abates your soul's fire. | 12 | ·/˘·/˘˘/··/˘ |
| Inordinate appetite makes a man low ; | 11 | ˘/˘˘/˘····· |
| Do not show it affection, if wisdom you know ! | 12 | ····˘/˘·/˘·· |
| If whatever may be its desire, you should eat, | 12 | ··/˘···˘/··· |
| From the changes of Time, disappointment you'll meet. | 12 | ··/˘···˘/˘·· |
| If the store of the stomach is always kept hot, | 12 | ·····/˘·/··· |
| Misfortune arises when nought can be got. | 12 | ˘/˘˘/˘······ |
| The hue of your face disappears in distress, | 11 | ······˘/·˘/ |
| When in plentiful times you your stomach oppress. | 12 | ··/˘˘···/˘˘/ |
| The man always eating, the stomach's load bears ; | 11 | ··/˘/˘·/˘·· |
| If he eats not, he carries a burden of cares. | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| The stomach's slave, greatly abashed you will find; | 12 | ·/˘·/˘˘/˘··· |
| A void stomach is better, I think, than void mind. | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.