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;
وان فضای خرق اسباب و علل ** هست ارض الله ای صدر اجل
But the spacious realm where means and causes are torn to shreds (transcended) is the earth of God, O most honourable sire.
هر زمان مبدل شود چون نقش جان ** نو به نو بیند جهانی در عیان
It is ever changing, like a (fleeting) picture: the spirit beholds in clairvoyance a world (appearing) anew and anew.
گر بود فردوس و انهار بهشت ** چون فسرده‌ی یک صفت شد گشت زشت
(Everything), though it be Paradise and the rivers of Eden, becomes ugly when it is congealed (fixed permanently) in one aspect.
بیان آنک هر حس مدرکی را از آدمی نیز مدرکاتی دیگرست کی از مدرکات آن حس دگر بی‌خبرست چنانک هر پیشه‌ور استاد اعجمی کار آن استاد دگر پیشه‌ورست و بی‌خبری او از آنک وظیفه‌ی او نیست دلیل نکند کی آن مدرکات نیست اگر چه به حکم حال منکر بود آن را اما از منکری او اینجا جز بی‌خبری نمی‌خواهیم درین مقام
Explaining that every percipient sense of man has different objects of perception too, of which the other senses are ignorant, as (for example) every skilled craftsman is unfamiliar with the work of those skilled in other crafts; and its (another sense's) ignorance of that which is not its business does not prove that those objects of perception are non-existent. Although it virtually denies them, yet here in this place we only mean by its ‘denial’ its ignorance.
Thy perception is the measure of thy vision of the world: thy impure senses are the veil (which prevents thee from having sight) of the pure (holy men).
مدتی حس را بشو ز آب عیان ** این چنین دان جامه‌شوی صوفیان2385
Wash thy senses for a while with the water of clairvoyance: know that the garment-washing of the Súfís is like this.
چون شدی تو پاک پرده بر کند ** جان پاکان خویش بر تو می‌زند
When thou hast become purified, the spirit of the pure ones will tear off the veil and attach itself to thee.