Chapter IX: Story on Forgetfulness of the Presence of God
A certain one joined in committing a crime,A man of good countenance passed at the time ;There he sat, and from shame beads of sweat on his face;He said, "Well! I'm ashamed 'fore the Sheikh of this place !"The aged philosopher heard this remark,He was vexed, and exclaimed, "Oh, my youthful one, hark!Respecting yourself, are you callous to shame?For, God being present, you blushed when I came!Do not hope that through any one rest you will get;Depart, and your hope on the Lord, only, set !In the presence of God, the same shame you should show,As in presence of strangers and people you know."
Words in this poem
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter IX: Story on Forgetfulness of the Presence of God 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 IX: Story on Forgetfulness of the Presence of God, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/9-20.html, id L29754.
Form and metre
Chapter IX: Story on Forgetfulness of the Presence of God is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFF crimeA · timeA · faceB · placeB · remarkC · harkC · shameD · cameD · getE · setE · showF · knowF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| A certain one joined in committing a crime, | 12 | ·/˘··˘·˘/˘·· |
| A man of good countenance passed at the time ; | 12 | ····/˘˘·˘··· |
| There he sat, and from shame beads of sweat on his face; | 12 | ············ |
| He said, "Well! I'm ashamed 'fore the Sheikh of this place !" | 12 | ····˘/······ |
| The aged philosopher heard this remark, | 10 | ··˘/˘˘··˘/ |
| He was vexed, and exclaimed, "Oh, my youthful one, hark! | 12 | ····˘/··/˘·· |
| Respecting yourself, are you callous to shame? | 11 | ˘/˘/˘··/˘·· |
| For, God being present, you blushed when I came! | 12 | ··/˘/˘··˘··· |
| Do not hope that through any one rest you will get; | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| Depart, and your hope on the Lord, only, set ! | 11 | ˘/······/˘· |
| In the presence of God, the same shame you should show, | 12 | ··/˘········ |
| As in presence of strangers and people you know." | 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.