از دی که گذشت هیچ از آن یاد مکن
فردا که نیامده است فریاد مکن
بر نامده و گذشته بنیاد مکن
حالی خوش باش و عمر بر باد مکن
Dashti, quatrain 34, p. 253-254
az di ke gozasht hich az aan yaad makon
fardaa ke nayaamadast faryaad makon
bar naamade o gozashte bonyaad makon
haali khosh baash o ‘omr bar baad makon
The yesterday that's gone
you must forget what it was;
for the tomorrow not come
don't flitter and fuss.
In the not-come and gone
make not your cause;
be happy just now
don't shift with the breeze.
When yesterday is vanished in the past,
And morrow lingers in the future vast,
To neither give a thought but prize the hour;
For that is all you have and Time flies fast.
Saidi, quatrain 123
Translation & Discussion of the quatrain: FitzGerald apparently did not use this quatrain; but Saidi's rendition calls FitzGerald to mind: The Bird of Time has but a little way/To flutter—and the Bird is on the Wing. (Stanza VII, 4th ed.)
1. The yesterday which has passed, do not mark it down/do not remember it -- newcomers may have already noted the ma-prefix used to negate imperatives, as here, makon. 2. The tomorrow which has not come, do not fuss/cry out over it. 3. Do not build your foundation on the not-come and gone. 4. Be happy in the present, don't throw life to the wind, or accurately for the idiom, "don't throw your life away/don't destroy your life" (worrying over past and future).