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گربه مرگست و مرض چنگال او ** می‌زند بر مرغ و پر و بال او
- The cat is Death, and its claws are disease: it is striking at the bird and its plumage.
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گوشه گوشه می‌جهد سوی دوا ** مرگ چون قاضیست و رنجوری گوا 3985
- He (the sick man) darts (like the bird) from corner to corner towards the remedy. Death is like the cadi, and the disease is the witness.
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چون پیاده‌ی قاضی آمد این گواه ** که همی‌خواند ترا تا حکم گاه
- This witness comes (to you), like the cadi's footman (officer), who summons you to the place of judgment.
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مهلتی می‌خواهی از وی در گریز ** گر پذیرد شد و گرنه گفت خیز
- You, in flight (from your doom), beg him (to grant you) a respite: if he consent, it is granted; otherwise, he says, “Arise (and go with me).”
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جستن مهلت دوا و چاره‌ها ** که زنی بر خرقه‌ی تن پاره‌ها
- The seeking of a respite consists in remedies and cures, that you may patch (thereby) the tattered cloak, the body.
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عاقبت آید صباحی خشم‌وار ** چند باشد مهلت آخر شرم دار
- At last, one morning, he comes angrily, saying, “How long will the respite be? Now, prithee, be ashamed!”
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عذر خود از شه بخواه ای پرحسد ** پیش از آنک آنچنان روزی رسد 3990
- O envious man, ask your pardon of the King ere such a day as that arrives.
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وانک در ظلمت براند بارگی ** برکند زان نور دل یکبارگی
- And he who rides his horse into the darkness and altogether removes his heart from the Light
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می‌گریزد از گوا و مقصدش ** کان گوا سوی قضا می‌خواندش
- Is fleeing from the witness and his purpose; for that witness is calling him to judgement.
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دیگر باره ملامت کردن اهل مسجد مهمان را از شب خفتن در آن مسجد
- How the people of the mosque blamed the guest once more for (his intention of) sleeping in the mosque by night.
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قوم گفتندش مکن جلدی برو ** تا نگردد جامه و جانت گرو
- The people said to him, “Do not act with foolhardiness, depart, lest thy (bodily) vesture and thy soul become in pawn (to Death).”