اول اردی بهشت ماه جلالی
بلبل گوینده بر منابر قضبان
بر گل سرخ از نم اوفتاده لعالی
هم چو عرق بر عذار شاهد غضبان
***
درخت غنچه برآورد و بلبلان مستند
جهان جوان شد و یاران به عیش بنشستند
یکی درخت گل اندر میان خانه ی ماست
که سروهای چمن پیش قامتش پستند
"Green garments were upon the trees
Like holiday robes on contented persons.
On the first of the month Ordibihesht Jellali
The bulbuls were singing on the pulpits of branches.
Upon the roses pearls of dew had fallen,
Resembling perspiration on an angry sweetheart's cheek."
Sadi (12th et 13th century A.D.)
Introduction of Gulistan
Today is the 1st of the month of Ordibehesht of the Persian Jalāli Calendar. Today is day of Sadi. Sadi is one of the major Persian poets of the medieval period. He is recognized not only for the quality of his writing, but also for the depth of his social thought.
His best known works are the (Bostan) in 1257(The Orchard) and the (Gulistan) in 1258(The Rose Garden). The Bostan is entirely in verse (epic metre) and consists of stories aptly illustrating the standard virtues recommended to Muslims (justice, liberality, modesty, contentment) as well as of reflections on the behaviour of dervishes and their ecstatic practices. The Golestan is mainly in prose and contains stories and personal anecdotes. The text is interspersed with a variety of short poems, containing aphorisms, advice, and humorous reflections. Saadi demonstrates a profound awareness of the absurdity of human existence. The fate of those who depend on the changeable moods of kings is contrasted with the freedom of the dervishes.
Saadi distinguished between the spiritual and the practical or mundane aspects of life. In his Bostan, for example, spiritual Saadi uses the mundane world as a spring board to propel himself beyond the earthly realms. The images in Bostan are delicate in nature and soothing. In the Golestan, on the other hand, mundane Saadi lowers the spiritual to touch the heart of his fellow wayfarers. Here the images are graphic and, thanks to Saadi's dexterity, remain concrete in the reader's mind. Realistically, too, there is a ring of truth in the division. The Shaykh preaching in the Khaniqah experiences a totally different world than the merchant passing through a town. The unique thing about Saadi is that he embodies both the Sufi Shaykh and the traveling merchant. They are, as he himself puts it, two almond kernels in the same shell.
Saadi's prose style, described as "simple but impossible to imitate" flows quite naturally and effortlessly. Its simplicity, however, is grounded in a semantic web consisting of synonymy, homophony, and oxymoron buttressed by internal rhythm and external rhyme.
One of his more famous quotes is, "Whatever is produced in haste goes easily to waste." Another famous poem focuses on the kinship of mankind, is used to grace the entrance to the Hall of Nations of the UN building in New York with this call for breaking all barriers:
بنى آدم اعضای يك دیگرند
که در آفرينش ز يك گوهرند
چو عضوى به درد آورد روزگار
دگر عضوها را نماند قرار
تو کز محنت دیگران بیغمی
نشاید که نامت نهند آدمی

"Of one Essence is the human race,
Thusly has Creation put the Base;
One Limb impacted is sufficient,
For all Others to feel the Mace."
Translation by: Iraj Bashiri
The drunken fiddler and the ascetic
یکی بربطی در بغل داشت مست
به شب در سر پارسایی شکست
چو روز آمد آن نیکمرد سلیم
بر سنگدل برد یک مشت سیم
که دوشینه معذور بودی و مست
تو را و مرا بربط و سر شکست
مرا به شد آن زخم و برخاست بیم
تو را به نخواهد شد الا به سیم
از این دوستان خدا بر سرند
که از خلق بسیار بر سر خورند
One drunken had a fiddle beneath his arm and broke it one night on a pious man's head; when day came, that good man brought that fiddler a fist a of silver, saying: "Last night you were drunk and not responsible for what what you did, and so your fiddle and my head were broken, but my wound now heals, while you'll not recover save other than by silver".
This, then, is why God's friends are beloved!
The glowworm
مگر دیده باشی که در باغ و راغ
بتابد به شب کرمکی چون چراغ
یکی گفتش ای کرمک شب فروز
چه بودت که بیرون نیایی به روز؟
ببین کتشی کرمک خاک زاد
جواب از سر روشنایی چه داد
که من روز و شب جز به صحرانیم
ولی پیش خورشید پیدا نیم
No doubt you've seen, in garden and meadow, a little worm shining at night like a candle? Said one thereto: "O, night-illuminating wormkin, what ails you that you come not forth by day?".
See how that fiery wormkin, born of earth, gave forth in clarity an answer: "Day and night alike, where should I be but in the open spaces? But one account of sunlight, I'm not to be seen!"
Bustan of Sadi
I uploaded the translations of both Bustan and Gulistan for you.
Download Bustan (Orchard) 308 kb
Download Gulistan (Rose Garden) 448 kb