Chapter VII: On Keeping Secrets
Tagash told his attendants a secret and said :"Do not mention a word to a soul on this head!"It reached not the mouth from the heart for a year;Through the world in a day it became very clear.Tagash, pitiless, ordered the headsman to go,And sever their heads with the sword, at a blow.Of the number, one said and protection desired :"Do not murder your slaves! for their fault you inspired.You stopped it not, first, as a fountain concealed,Why uselessly stem, now, the torrent revealed?"Do not show to a man what lies hid in your mind!For he, surely, will tell it to all he can find.Trust your gems to the keepers of treasure and pelf!But, take very good care of a secret yourself!While the word is not spoken you have it in hand;When spoken, it brings you within its commandIs not speech a fiend, chained in the well of the mind?On the palate and tongue, do not leave it entwined !For the nude, filthy fiend you can open the way,But again, cannot seize him with hocussing play.You know when a fiend from his cage gets away,He will never return, though " la-houl" you should say.A child may a roan-coloured charger unloose;Not for Rustams, five-score, will it come to the noose.Do not mention that, which, if revealed unto all,Into bitter misfortune a person would fall !How well said a wife to her ignorant swain :"With knowledge discourse ! or else, silence maintain !"
Words in this poem
- headsman
- An executioner who cuts off heads.
- pelf n.
- Money; riches; lucre; gain; -- generally conveying the idea of something ill-gotten or worthless. It has no plural. [OE. pelfir booty, OF. pelfre, akin to pelfrer to plunder, and perh. to E. pillage. Cf. Pilfer.]
- coloured a.
- Having color; tinged; dyed; painted; stained.
- charger n.
- One who, or that which charges.
- unloose v. t.
- To make loose; to loosen; to set free. [1st pref. un- (intensive) + loose.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter VII: On Keeping Secrets 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 VII: On Keeping Secrets, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/7-3.html, id L29686.
Form and metre
Chapter VII: On Keeping Secrets is 28 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHFFIIIIJJKKLL saidA · headA · yearB · clearB · goC · blowC · desiredD · inspiredD · concealedE · revealedE · mindF · findF · pelfG · yourselfG · handH · commandH · mindF · entwinedF · wayI · playI · awayI · sayI · unlooseJ · nooseJ · allK · fallK · swainL · maintainL
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Tagash told his attendants a secret and said : | 12 | ····˘/˘·/˘·· |
| "Do not mention a word to a soul on this head!" | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| It reached not the mouth from the heart for a year; | 12 | ··˘········· |
| Through the world in a day it became very clear. | 12 | ·······˘//˘· |
| Tagash, pitiless, ordered the headsman to go, | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘·/˘·· |
| And sever their heads with the sword, at a blow. | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Of the number, one said and protection desired : | 13 | ··/˘···˘/˘˘/˘ |
| "Do not murder your slaves! for their fault you inspired. | 13 | ··/˘······˘/˘ |
| You stopped it not, first, as a fountain concealed, | 12 | ··˘·····/˘˘/ |
| Why uselessly stem, now, the torrent revealed?" | 12 | ········/˘˘/ |
| Do not show to a man what lies hid in your mind! | 12 | ············ |
| For he, surely, will tell it to all he can find. | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| Trust your gems to the keepers of treasure and pelf! | 12 | ·····/˘·/˘·· |
| But, take very good care of a secret yourself! | 12 | ··/˘····/˘/˘ |
| While the word is not spoken you have it in hand; | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| When spoken, it brings you within its command | 11 | ·/˘······˘/ |
| Is not speech a fiend, chained in the well of the mind? | 12 | ············ |
| On the palate and tongue, do not leave it entwined ! | 12 | ··/˘······˘/ |
| For the nude, filthy fiend you can open the way, | 12 | ···/˘···/˘·· |
| But again, cannot seize him with hocussing play. | 12 | ·˘/˘/···/˘˘· |
| You know when a fiend from his cage gets away, | 11 | ·········˘/ |
| He will never return, though " la-houl" you should say. | 12 | ··/˘˘/······ |
| A child may a roan-coloured charger unloose; | 12 | ·····/˘˘/˘˘/ |
| Not for Rustams, five-score, will it come to the noose. | 12 | ············ |
| Do not mention that, which, if revealed unto all, | 12 | ··/˘···˘/··· |
| Into bitter misfortune a person would fall ! | 12 | ··/˘˘/˘·/˘·· |
| How well said a wife to her ignorant swain : | 11 | ·······/˘˘· |
| "With knowledge discourse ! or else, silence maintain !" | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘/ |
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.