بنگر آنها را که حالی دیده‌اند ** سر فاسد ز اصل سر ببریده‌اند
Look at those who have seen (only) the present: their inmost self is corrupt; they are radically decapitated (cut off from the Truth).
پیش حالی‌بین که در جهلست و شک ** صبح صادق صبح کاذب هر دو یک
To the seer of the present, who is in ignorance and doubt, both the true dawn and the false dawn are one (and the same).
صبح کاذب صد هزاران کاروان ** داد بر باد هلاکت ای جوان
The false dawn has given a hundred thousand caravans to the wind of destruction, O youth.
نیست نقدی کش غلط‌انداز نیست ** وای آن جان کش محک و گاز نیست
There is no genuine money that has not a deceptive counterfeit: alas for the soul that does not possess the touchstone and scissors!
زجر مدعی از دعوی و امر کردن او را به متابعت
Warning the pretender to shun pretension and enjoining him to follow (the true guide).
بو مسیلم گفت خود من احمدم ** دین احمد را به فن برهم زدم1695
Bú Musaylim said, “I myself am Ahmad (Mohammed): I have cunningly confounded the religion of Ahmad.”
بو مسیلم را بگو کم کن بطر ** غره‌ی اول مشو آخر نگر
Say to Bú Musaylim, “Do not behave with insolence: be not deluded by the beginning, regard the end.
این قلاوزی مکن از حرص جمع ** پس‌روی کن تا رود در پیش شمع
Do not act thus as a guide from (with the motive of) greed for amassing (wealth and power): follow behind, in order that the Candle (the true guide) may go in front (of thee).”
شمع مقصد را نماید هم‌چو ماه ** کین طرف دانه‌ست یا خود دامگاه
The Candle, like the moon, shows (clearly) the (traveller's) destination, and whether in this direction there is the grain (of spiritual welfare) or the place for the snare (of perdition).
گر بخواهی ور نخواهی با چراغ ** دیده گردد نقش باز و نقش زاغ
Whether thou wilt or not, (so long as thou art) with the Lantern the form of falcon and the form of crow become visible (to thee).
ورنه این زاغان دغل افروختند ** بانگ بازان سپید آموختند1700
Otherwise, (beware, for) these crows have lit (the lantern of) fraud: they have learned the cry of the white falcons.