Quatrain 42

 

امروز ترا دسترس  فردا  نیست 

واندیشۀ فردات  بجز سودا نیست 

ضا یع مکن این دم اردلت بیداراست 

کاین  باقی عمررا بقا  پیدا نیست

Hedayat, quatrain 135      

emruz toraa dastras fardaa nist

vandishe-ye fardaat bejoz sawdaa nist

zaaye' makon 'in dam ar delat bidaar ast

kin baaqi-ye omr raa baqaa paydaa nist 

 

 

To-day is thine to spend, but not to-morrow,

Counting on morrows breedeth nothing but sorrows;

Oh! squander not this breath that heaven hath lent thee,

Nor make too sure another breath to borrow!

Whinfield, quatrain 30 

 

Today, tomorrow is not within your reach,

To think of it is only morbid:

If the heart is awake, do not waste this moment --

There is no proof of life's continuance.

Avery, Heath-Stubbs, quatrain 135 

 

Today is here

and not tomorrow

thinking tomorrow

will make you sad.

If your heart is game

seize this moment

what lies ahead

who knows about that?

 

Translation & Discussion of the quatrain:

1.  Today  is at hand/accessible to you, tomorrow is not 2.  And the thought of tomorrow is nothing but melancholy 3.  Do not waste this moment if your heart is awake  -- quatrain 56, Dashti, reads: ... ار دلت شیدا نیست, ar delat shaydaa nist, if your heart is not distraught  4.   Since for this remainder of life  continuing on has not been known -- Dashti has بها, bahaa  'price' or 'value'  instead of بقا , baqaa, 'continuance' : no value has been placed on what's left in this life , that is, the value is placed in today and no estimates exist for tomorrow, so what value is there in thinking about or living for tomorrow.  My 'edit,' based solely on what I like, would leave Hedayat's first mesraa' in the second bayt and include Dashti's bahaa in the concluding mesraa'.

In its carpe diem theme, the quatrain is reminiscent of quatrain 9 on this weblog.