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گفت شه پوشید حق پاداش بد ** لیک از عامه نه از خاصان خود
- The King said, “God has veiled the retribution of evil, but (only) from the vulgar, not from His own elect.
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گر به دامی افکنم من یک امیر ** از امیران خفیه دارم نه از وزیر 990
- If I entrap one Amír, I keep it hidden from the (other) Amírs, (but) not from the Vizier.
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حق به من بنمود پس پاداش کار ** وز صورهای عملها صد هزار
- God, then, has shown to me the retribution of work and myriads of the (substantial) forms of actions.
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تو نشانی ده که من دانم تمام ** ماه را بر من نمیپوشد غمام
- Give a sign (outwardly), for I know all: the cloud does not veil the moon from me.”
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گفت پس از گفت من مقصود چیست ** چون تو میدانی که آن چه بود چیست
- The slave said, “Then what is the object of my speaking, since thou knowest what is (the real nature of) that which has been?”
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گفت شه حکمت در اظهار جهان ** آن که دانسته برون آید عیان
- The King said, “The wisdom (of God) in making the world manifest (was) that the (thing) known should come forth (to be seen) plainly.
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آن چه میدانست تا پیدا نکرد ** بر جهان ننهاد رنج طلق و درد 995
- Until He made visible that which He knew, He did not lay upon the world the pain of parturition and the throes (thereof).
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یک زمان بیکار نتوانی نشست ** تا بدی یا نیکیی از تو نجست
- You cannot sit inactive for one moment: (you cannot rest) till some badness or goodness has issued from you.
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این تقاضاهای کار از بهر آن ** شد موکل تا شود سرت عیان
- These demands (cravings) for action were appointed in order that your inward consciousness should come clearly into (outward) view.
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پس کلابهی تن کجا ساکن شود ** چون سر رشتهی ضمیرش میکشد
- How, then, should the reel, which is the body, become still, when the thread's end, which is the mind, is pulling it?