How much longer must I bear your cruelty? This too shall pass.
Your affliction has grown great; this too shall pass.
تا کی کشم جفای تو؟ این نیز بگذرد
بسیار شد بلای تو، این نیز بگذردTâ key keşem cefâ-yı tu? În nîz begzered
bisyâr şod belâ-yı tu, în nîz begzered
Fakhr al-Din Iraqi, Divan, ghazal 69, opening couplet (Ganjoor text), 13th century.
In Iraqi's ghazal these three words ring out again at the end of every couplet, each time touching a different wound.
Cruelty passes, affliction passes, deprivation passes; and life passes along with them.
That is why the saying is a two-edged knife.
It lets the grieving breathe, and it sobers the joyful.
Whoever remembers it only on bad days has understood half of it; the whole is understood when it can be said in the middle of a good day as well.