جامی است که عقل آفرین میزندش
صد بوسه ز مهر بر جبین میزندش
این کوزهگر دهر چنین جام لطیف
میسازد و باز بر زمین میزندش
Dashti, quatrain 32, p. 247
jaamist ke ‘aql aafarin mizanadash
sad buse ze mehr bar jabin mizanadash
in kuzegar-e dahr chonin jaam-e latif
misaazad o baaz bar zamin mizanadash
Said one among them—"Surely not in vain
My substance of the common Earth was ta'en
And to this Figure, molded, to be broke,
Or trampled back to shapeless Earth again."
FitzGerald, stanza LXXXIV, 4th ed.
(LXI, 1st ed.)
A vase there is that Wisdom does adore,
And imprints on its cheeks kisses galore;
Behold the Master Potter of the World—
Such a vase He makes, then breaks it on the floor!
Saidi, quatrain 36
Translation & Discussion of the quatrain: Note that the texts of Forughi-Ghani (115), Hedaayat (43), Saidi (36), and Whinfield (290) are the same. Visitors to the site will wish to compare this quatrain with weblog quatrains 2 and 4.
1. There is a cup/vase that reason praises 2. It (reason) delivers out of love a hundred kisses to its (the vase's) brow. 3. This/the potter of eternity such exquisite vases 4. Creates and hurls them back to the ground.
By reason or 'Wisdom' in the first line, the speaker means the ability to reason, to see and consider all the angles of an argument or proposition. It is "good sense" or judgment that informs the reader/listener that this vase is well-made, worthy of praise. And so, it is worthy of receiving hundreds of kisses upon its brow (done so with love). As in weblog quatrain 2, the cup or vase has "parts" which correspond to parts of the human body. From what follows, it becomes obvious that the analogy is intentional - the "Potter makes lovely vessels like this" -- where the literal meaning of chonin, "like this", is effective. All the lovely cups/humans are returned to the clay whence they came.
Lines one, two, and four conclude with zanadash. Often, like kardan, zadan/zan is used idiomatically with nouns. The pronoun suffix -ash (3rd person singular) is, in the first line, dependent on aafarin "reason makes praise of it". In the second, jabin, "its brow"; and the fourth mesraa‘ , -ash is the direct object of zadan, throws/hurls/dashes/breaks it.