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خاک شوره گردد و ریزان و سست ** هرگز از شوره نبات خوش نرست
- (Ere) the soil becomes nitrous (barren), crumbling, and poor —never did good herbage grow from nitrous soil;
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آب زور و آب شهوت منقطع ** او ز خویش و دیگران نامنتفع
- (When) the water of strength and the water of lust (is) cut off, and he has no profit from himself or others:
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ابروان چون پالدم زیر آمده ** چشم را نم آمده تاری شده
- The eyebrows fallen down like a crupper-strap; the eyes grown moist and dim;
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از تشنج رو چو پشت سوسمار ** رفته نطق و طعم و دندانها ز کار
- The face, from wrinkling, like the back of a lizard; speech and taste and teeth gone out of use;
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روز بیگه لاشه لنگ و ره دراز ** کارگه ویران عمل رفته ز ساز 1225
- The day late, the ass lame, and the way long; the shop ruined and the business in disorder;
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بیخهای خوی بد محکم شده ** قوت بر کندن آن کم شده
- The roots of bad habit firmly set, and the power to tear them up decreased.
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فرمودن والی آن مرد را که این خار بن را که نشاندهای بر سر راه بر کن
- How the Governor commanded a certain man, saying, “Root up the thorn bush which you have planted on the road.”
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همچو آن شخص درشت خوش سخن ** در میان ره نشاند او خار بن
- As (for example) that callous fair-spoken person planted a thorn bush in the middle of the road.
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ره گذریانش ملامتگر شدند ** بس بگفتندش بکن این را نکند
- The wayfarers reproached him and oftentimes told him to dig it up: he dug it not up.
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هر دمی آن خار بن افزون شدی ** پای خلق از زخم آن پر خون شدی
- Every moment the thorn bush was growing bigger: the people's feet were streaming with blood from its pricks.
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جامههای خلق بدریدی ز خار ** پای درویشان بخستی زار زار 1230
- The people's clothes were being rent by the thorns: the feet of the poor were being wounded pitiably.