Pendant des années, j’avais voyagé avec cet ami. Bien des fois, ensemble, nous avions partagé le pain et le sel. C’est vous dire que notre intimité était absolue. Un jour, désireux de réaliser un gain, il se permit de me blesser, et notre intimité cessa. Malgré ce pénible événement, nous nous aimions encore, lorsque j’appris qu’il récitait, dans les assemblées, cette kacida, que j’avais composée. « Lorsque mon ami pénètre dans ma demeure en souriant, il saupoudre de sel la plaie du blessé d’amour. Que se passerait-il, si une boucle de ses cheveux venait à caresser mon front, comme l’aumône d’un homme riche tombe dans la main d’un pauvre ? » Plusieurs personnes avaient bien voulu applaudir ces vers, et mon ancien camarade les avait aussitôt louangés avec exagération. Il était allé jusqu’à gémir d’avoir perdu mon affection, n’hésitant point à se reconnaître coupable … Je me rendis compte qu’il voulait me revoir, [et lui]1 adressai les vers suivants, en témoignage de pardon : « Nous sommes restés fidèles l’un à l’autre. Toi seul as été injuste. Je ne pouvais prévoir que tu t’éloignerais, et j’avais lié mon cœur au tien … Il y avait tant d’autres cœurs, cependant ! Reviens. Tu seras aimé comme jamais tu ne l’as été ! »
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1 K. Sorabji: "et je lui"Authorship:
- by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "La fidélité", appears in Gulistan. Le jardin des roses, Paris, Éd. Arthème Fayard, first published 1913 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in Persian (Farsi) by Abū-Muḥammad Muṣliḥ al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī (1184 - 1273?) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Kaikhosru Sorabji, born Leon Dudley Sorabji (1892 - 1988), "La fidélité", KSS 42 no. 3 (1926), published 1991, first performed 1999 [ male voice and piano ], from Trois poèmes du “Gulistān” de Saʿdī, no. 3, Bath, The Sorabji Archive [sung text checked 1 time]
Available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):
- ENG English (Charles Hopkins) , "Fidelity", written 1995, copyright © 1995, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
- ENG English (Edward Rehatsek) , Kama Shastra Society, first published 1888
Researcher for this page: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2018-08-27
Line count: 22
Word count: 212
I had a companion with whom I had travelled for years and eaten salt. Boundless intimacy subsisted between us till at last he suffered my mind to be grieved for the sake of some paltry gain and our friendship closed. Despite of an this, however, mutual attachment of heart still subsisted between us because I heard him one day reciting in an assembly the following two distichs of my composition: “When my sweetheart enters sweetly smiling She adds more salt to my bleeding wound. How would it be if the tip of her curls fell into my hand Like the sleeve of the bountiful into the hands of dervishes?” Some friends bore witness not so much to the gracefulness of these verses as to the beauty of my conduct which they approved; and among the rest, the said friend likewise added his share of praise, regretting the loss of our former companionship and confessing his fault so that his affection became known. Accordingly I sent the following distichs and made peace: “Was not there a covenant of friendship between us? Thou hast been cruel and not loving. I once tied my heart to thee, disregarding the world. Not knowing thou wouldst turn back so soon. If thou yet desirest conciliation, return Because thou wilt be more beloved than before.”
About the headline (FAQ)
Authorship:
- by Edward Rehatsek (1819 - 1891), Kama Shastra Society, first published 1888 [author's text not yet checked against a primary source]
Based on:
- a text in French (Français) by Franz Toussaint (1879 - 1955), "La fidélité", appears in Gulistan. Le jardin des roses, Paris, Éd. Arthème Fayard, first published 1913
Based on:
- a text in Persian (Farsi) by Abū-Muḥammad Muṣliḥ al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī (1184 - 1273?) [text unavailable]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- [ None yet in the database ]
Researcher for this page: Poom Andrew Pipatjarasgit [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2019-05-29
Line count: 21
Word count: 219