Chapter IX: Story on Penitence averting Punishment
The King of Damghan, with a club, hit one blows,Till his cries, like the sound of a kettle-drum, rose.In the night-time, from writhing, he could not get rest ;A pious man passed him and, thus, him addressed :" Had you brought the police an excuse over night,Daylight had not looked on your infamous plight !"At the Judgment, the person in shame will not pine,Who brings his heart burning, at night, to the shrine.In the night of repentance ask God, if you're wise,For forgiveness of sins that in day-time arise !If you still think of peace, what's the fear for your state?On implorers the Lord does not shut Pardon's gate !"Twould be strange, were the bounteous Creator of all,Not to lend you a hand if you happened to fall.If a slave of the Lord, raise your hands up in pray'r!Shed tears of repentance, if shame you should bear!None has come to this door asking pardon, as yet,Whose sins were not washed by the flood of regret.The Lord does not pour out the honour of one,Whose sins cause the tears from his full eyes to run.
Words in this poem
- daylight n.
- The light of day as opposed to the darkness of night; the light of the sun, as opposed to that of the moon or to artificial light.
- plight v. t.
- To weave; to braid; to fold; to plait. [OE. pliten; probably through Old French, fr. LL. plectare, L. plectere. See Plait, Ply.]
- bounteous a.
- Liberal in charity; disposed to give freely; generously liberal; munificent; beneficent; free in bestowing gifts; as, bounteous production. [OE. bountevous, fr. bounte bounty.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Chapter IX: Story on Penitence averting Punishment 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 Penitence averting Punishment, in The Garden of Fragrance (1882), text of Internet Archive, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/saadi-bostan/9-24.html, id L29758.
Form and metre
Chapter IX: Story on Penitence averting Punishment 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 90%).
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJ blowsA · roseA · restB · addressedB · nightC · plightC · pineD · shrineD · wiseE · ariseE · stateF · gateF · allG · fallG · pray'rH · bearH · yetI · regretI · oneJ · runJ
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The King of Damghan, with a club, hit one blows, | 11 | ··········· |
| Till his cries, like the sound of a kettle-drum, rose. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| In the night-time, from writhing, he could not get rest ; | 12 | ·····/˘····· |
| A pious man passed him and, thus, him addressed : | 12 | ·/˘··˘····˘/ |
| " Had you brought the police an excuse over night, | 12 | ····˘/·˘/··· |
| Daylight had not looked on your infamous plight !" | 12 | /····˘··/˘˘· |
| At the Judgment, the person in shame will not pine, | 12 | ··/˘·/˘····· |
| Who brings his heart burning, at night, to the shrine. | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| In the night of repentance ask God, if you're wise, | 12 | ····˘/˘····· |
| For forgiveness of sins that in day-time arise ! | 12 | ·˘/˘······˘/ |
| If you still think of peace, what's the fear for your state? | 12 | ············ |
| On implorers the Lord does not shut Pardon's gate ! | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| "Twould be strange, were the bounteous Creator of all, | 13 | ·····/˘˘˘/˘·· |
| Not to lend you a hand if you happened to fall. | 12 | ········/˘·· |
| If a slave of the Lord, raise your hands up in pray'r! | 12 | ············ |
| Shed tears of repentance, if shame you should bear! | 11 | ···˘/˘····· |
| None has come to this door asking pardon, as yet, | 12 | ······/˘/˘·· |
| Whose sins were not washed by the flood of regret. | 12 | ·····˘····˘/ |
| The Lord does not pour out the honour of one, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| Whose sins cause the tears from his full eyes to run. | 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.