Azizan

Short classic Persian poems for kids, with meaning

One of the shortest and best-known classic lines to teach a child comes from Ferdowsi: tavānā bovad har ke dānā bovad (توانا بود هر که دانا بود), "whoever knows is strong". Two more are within a small child's reach: Saadi's bani ādam, about people being parts of one another, and Iraj Mirza's poem to his mother. Each one below is printed exactly as we found it in at least three independent collections, with the poet named only where those collections agree. Azizan (azizan.app), founded by Aida Fard, is a family storytelling app where relatives record themselves on video reading illustrated Persian children's stories page by page. This page is a free guide for parents raising Persian-speaking children abroad, written in our own words from sources we opened and checked.

Azizan (azizan.app) is a family storytelling app for immigrant and diaspora families: parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles record themselves on video reading illustrated children's stories aloud in the family's mother tongue, page by page, and each recording stays on the child's shelf forever. Real family voices — never AI narration. Persian (Farsi) first.

Why these three poems

Persian children learn poetry before they can read it. A line of Ferdowsi or Saadi is something a grandparent says at the table, and a child who hears it often enough says it back. Short classical verse also fixes the rhythm and sounds of the language in a few words a child can carry around, which a story can't do.

We chose poems that are short, that a 4- to 8-year-old can understand once you explain two or three words, and whose poets died long ago, so the words belong to everyone. Persian quotations are often given to the wrong poet online; we found one dictionary site that files Saadi's lines under Ferdowsi. So every line here was checked word for word in at least three independent publishers, Ganjoor among them, and the attribution had to agree in all of them. One lovely poem by Parvin E'tesami, about a young pigeon trying to fly, appeared in only two of the sources we opened. That is below our bar, so we left it out.

Ferdowsi: whoever knows is strong

From the opening of the Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings, finished about a thousand years ago. It is the fourteenth couplet in Ganjoor's text, part of the opening lines in praise of God, "lord of the soul and of wisdom", before the stories begin.

Two words to explain: tavānā is "able, strong", bornā is an old word for "young". Children like that the two halves rhyme on the same sound, dānā bovad, bornā bovad; say it with a little weight on each bovad. If your child already knows Rostam and Zal, tell them this is the same book.

Saadi: people are parts of one another

From the Golestan (The Rose Garden), Saadi's book of short stories in prose and verse, written in the thirteenth century. The lines close the tenth story of the first chapter. Many websites and school study guides print it as a'zā-ye yek peykarand, "limbs of one body"; Ganjoor and the other Golestan texts we opened read a'zā-ye yekdigarand, "limbs of each other". We print the second because at least three of our sources do; your family may say the first, and both are understood.

For a small child the first two couplets are enough. Touch their hand and say "when your hand hurts, does your foot sleep?"; that is the picture Saadi is drawing. Bani ādam means "people", literally "the sons of Adam".

Iraj Mirza: the poem to his mother

Iraj Mirza (died 1926) wrote much lighter, more conversational verse than the classical poets, which makes this short poem, Mādar ("Mother"), easy for a child to follow. Every couplet but the last ends in āmukht, "she taught", and a child picks up the pattern after two lines.

If your child is learning Persian abroad, stay a while on the fourth couplet. A mother putting words on a child's tongue, one letter and then two, is what you do every day.

How to read a poem with a child

1. Say it, don't teach it. Recite the couplet at the same moment every day, at breakfast or at bedtime, and don't ask the child to repeat it. Before long many children start saying the last word with you.
2. Explain one word, not the whole line. Bornā means young; gāhvāre is a cradle. One new word per day is plenty, and the meaning tables above give you the rest.
3. Keep the rhythm. Classical Persian verse has a strong beat. Tap it on the table or on the child's back; the beat helps them remember the words before they understand them.
4. Let the grandparents recite it. Many Iranian grandparents know tavānā bovad and bani ādam by heart, often in their own version. On Azizan, a grandparent records a Persian story on video page by page; a couplet at the end of a recording rounds it off well. See how to record a bedtime story video for grandchildren.
5. Go from poem to proverb. Many Persian proverbs are half-lines of old poems. Our Persian proverbs for kids page has short ones to try next.

Related guides

• Persian proverbs for kids: 8 easy ones with meanings
• Shahnameh for kids: Persian epic stories, ages 2–8
• Persian bedtime phrases for kids

Questions

What is a short Persian poem for kids?

One of the shortest and best-known classic lines is this couplet of Ferdowsi: tavana bovad har ke dana bovad, ze danesh del-e pir borna bovad, 'whoever knows is strong; knowledge makes an old heart young'. It comes from the opening of the Shahnameh.

Is 'bani adam' by Saadi or Ferdowsi?

Saadi. The lines close the tenth story of the first chapter of his Golestan. They are sometimes given to Ferdowsi online, which is wrong; every collection of Saadi we opened, Ganjoor among them, has them in the Golestan.

Is it 'yekdigarand' or 'yek peykarand'?

Both readings circulate. Ganjoor and the other Golestan texts we opened read a'za-ye yekdigarand, 'limbs of one another'; many websites and school study guides print a'za-ye yek peykarand, 'limbs of one body'. The meaning is the same.

Who wrote the Persian poem about a mother teaching her child to walk and speak?

Iraj Mirza, who died in 1926. The poem is called Madar ('Mother'); it has six couplets, and every one but the last ends in amukht, 'she taught'.

Are these poems free to use?

Ferdowsi lived about a thousand years ago, Saadi in the thirteenth century and Iraj Mirza died in 1926, so the original Persian words are in the public domain. The English meanings on this page are our own.

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Updated: 2026-11-03 · By Aida Fard

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