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آنک بستد پیرهن را می‌شتافت ** بوی پیراهان یوسف می‌نیافت
- He that took the shirt (of Joseph) was hastening (on his way) and was not perceiving the scent of Joseph's shirt,
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و آنک صد فرسنگ زان سو بود او ** چونک بد یعقوب می‌بویید بو
- While he that was a hundred leagues (distant) from that quarter was smelling the perfume, since he was Jacob.
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ای بسا عالم ز دانش بی‌نصیب ** حافظ علمست آنکس نه حبیب
- Oh, there is many a learned man that hath no profit of (his) knowledge: that person is one who commits knowledge to memory, not one who loves (it).
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مستمع از وی همی‌یابد مشام ** گرچه باشد مستمع از جنس عام
- From him the hearer (but not the learned man himself) perceives the scent (of knowledge), though the hearer be of the common sort,
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زانک پیراهان بدستش عاریه‌ست ** چون بدست آن نخاسی جاریه‌ست 3040
- Because the shirt in his (the learned man's) hand is a borrowed thing, like a slave-girl in the hands of a slave-dealer.
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جاریه پیش نخاسی سرسریست ** در کف او از برای مشتریست
- The slave-girl is useless to the slave-dealer: she is in his hands (only) for the sake of the purchaser.
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قسمت حقست روزی دادنی ** هر یکی را سوی دیگر راه نی
- The dispensation of God is a bestowal of the allotted portion: no one's (portion) has access (can find its way) to another.
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یک خیال نیک باغ آن شده ** یک خیال زشت راه این زده
- A good fancy becomes that (blessed) man's garden (of Paradise); an ugly fancy waylays this (unblest) man (and brings him to perdition).
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آن خدایی کز خیالی باغ ساخت ** وز خیالی دوزخ و جای گداخت
- That Lord who hath made from one fancy the garden (of Paradise), and from one fancy Hell and the place of melting (torment)—
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پس کی داند راه گلشنهای او ** پس کی داند جای گلخنهای او 3045
- Then who (but He) should know the way to His roseries? Then who (but He) should know the way to His furnaces?