برمفرش خاک خفتگان میبینم
در زیر زمین نهفتگان میبینم
تا چشم به صحرای عدم مینگرد
نا آمدگان و رفتگان میبینم
Dashti, quatrain 10, p. 245
bar mafrash-e khaak khoftegaan mibinam
dar zir-e zamin nahoftegaan mibinam
taa cheshm be sahraa-ye ‘adam minegarad
naa aamadegaan o raftegaan mibinam
A lot of sleepers on the Earth I see,
And many more beneath the earth I see;
When I behold the Desert of Inane,
A vast crowd of unborn and dead I see.
Saidi, quatrain 116
On earth's green carpet many sleepers lie,
And hid beneath it others I descry;
And others, not yet come, or passed away,
People the desert of Nonentity!
Whinfield, quatrain 317
Translation & Discussion of the quatrain:
1. On earth's carpet I see the sleepers ... Perhaps the speaker means those here on earth who have gone to sleep by losing the "trail of wisdom" in their reckonings, computations and speculations (cf. Dashti, quatrain 7, which is in weblog Quatrain 34) 2. Under the earth I see the hidden 3. As long as my eye(s) view the wasteland of non-existence ... "non-existence" (عدم/ ‘adam) reminds me of the final mesraa‘ of the quatrain (see the 2nd part of weblog Quatrain 35) in which we, the chess pieces or puppets, after our performance on the board/stage of life have again gone into our box of "non-existence"-- رفتیم بصندوق عدم یک یک باز/raftim besanduq-e ‘adam yek yek baaz 4. I see the not-come and the gone ... ''not-come" of course means the unborn who, are themselves in this "box of non-existence" -- and who will be "sleepers" once awake to life if they lose the trail of wisdom.