A sweet-smiling one was selling honey so fine,

That hearts burned from the sweetness like wine

Her figure slender like a stalk of sugarcane,

More customers than flies her sweetness would gain

If she, perchance, had offered poison instead,

They’d take it as honey from her hands widespread

A jealous one observed her thriving trade,

And envied the bustling market she had made

The next day, he wandered around the world in haste,

Honey on his head, but vinegar marked his face

He cried and shouted as he moved to and fro,

For no fly would settle on his honey, though

At night, when his earnings came to naught,

With a gloomy face, to a corner he sought

Like a sinner frowning at threats divine,

Or a prisoner’s brows on a festive day align

A woman, jesting, said to her spouse,

For a sour face, even honey tastes foul, it vows

An ill temper will drag a man to hell,

For virtues of heaven in good manners dwell

Go drink warm water from the brook so near,

Not cold syrup fit for a sour face, my dear

The bread you taste, if from one with a frown,

Would be forbidden as their brows pulled down

Do not, my master, make life hard for your soul,

For bad temper casts one’s fate in a downward roll

Assume you have no silver or gold to show,

But like Sa'di, can you not a sweet tongue bestow?