Here's a picture of the roses and a copy of the poem. The wording varies depending on who translated it but this seems to be the most popular version.
If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft,
And from thy slender store
Two loaves alone to thee are left,
Sell one, and with the dole,
Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.
~ Musharish-Ud-Din Sadi
2 comments:
The roses are beautiful, but I do love the fragrance of hyacinths. So few flowers these days have a true fragrance anymore. Instead, we have air fresheners that smell like flowers used to smell. I remember Grandmother had deep purple lilacs that would almost knock you over the fragrance was so strong. She also had a few roses that were beautiful, but not as perfect as those you find now. Of course, the spectacular perfume those roses floated on the morning breeze did more than make up for any lack of visual perfection. I've been surprised lately to find fragrant petunias; I don't recall fragrant petunias when I was younger. Of course, on those evenings when I watch "Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader", I realize there is a lot I don't recall.
Barry
Our garden had white and purple lilacs, hyacinths of all colors, and peonies that were fragrant. We had many rose bushes too, until my mother got a very serious infection from a rose thorn and had them dug up. But my favorite fragrance memory is of my grandmother picking lily-of-the-valley each spring. She arranged the stems in a small rose-colored or clear glass vase and placed them on the kitchen table. Later, the small vase would hold white and purple violets, which have a more subtle, sweet fragrance. Whenever I smell either, I think of her. Later, in summer, the wild honeysuckle bloomed and we would pull out the stamens to catch drops of nectar on our tongues. I hope it is true that smell may be our stongest memory sense....wouldn't be so bad to recall these pleasant memories when I can't remember my pin number or passwords anymore.
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