گر تو باشی تنگ‌دل از ملحمه ** تنگ بینی جمله دنیا را همه
If thou art narrow (oppressed) at heart from (being engaged in) combat, thou deemest the whole atmosphere of the world to be narrow;
ور تو خوش باشی به کام دوستان ** این جهان بنمایدت چون گلستان
And if thou art happy as thy friends would desire, this world seems to thee like a garden of roses.
ای بسا کس رفته تا شام و عراق ** او ندیده هیچ جز کفر و نفاق
How many a one has gone as far as Syria and ‘Iráq and has seen nothing but unbelief and hypocrisy;
وی بسا کس رفته تا هند و هری ** او ندیده جز مگر بیع و شری
And how many a one has gone as far as India and Hirá (Herát) and seen nothing but selling and buying;
وی بسا کس رفته ترکستان و چین ** او ندیده هیچ جز مکر و کمین2375
And how many a one has gone as far as Turkistán and China and seen nothing but deceit and hidden guile!
چون ندارد مدرکی جز رنگ و بو ** جمله‌ی اقلیمها را گو بجو
Since he has no object of perception save colour and perfume (external phenomena), let him seek (through) all the climes, (he will see nothing spiritual).
گاو در بغداد آید ناگهان ** بگذرد او زین سران تا آن سران
(If) a cow come suddenly into Baghdád and pass from this side (of the city) to that (farther) side,
از همه عیش و خوشیها و مزه ** او نبیند جز که قشر خربزه
Of all (its) pleasures and joys and delights she will see nothing but the rind of a water-melon.
که بود افتاده بر ره یا حشیش ** لایق سیران گاوی یا خریش
(If) straw or hay has fallen on the road, (it is) suitable to his (such a one's) bovine or asinine disposition.
خشک بر میخ طبیعت چون قدید ** بسته‌ی اسباب جانش لا یزید2380
(Hanging) dry on the nail of (his bestial) nature, like strips of meat (exposed to the sun), his spirit, bound with (the cords of) secondary causes, does not grow;