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که عجایب نقشها آن کلک کرد ** هم‌چو ریحان و چو سوسن‌زار و ورد
- Saying, “That pen made wonderful pictures like sweet basil and beds of lilies and roses.”
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گفت آن مور اصبعست آن پیشه‌ور ** وین قلم در فعل فرعست و اثر
- The other ant said, “That artist is the finger, and this pen is actually (no more than) the derivative (instrument) and the sign.”
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گفت آن مور سوم کز بازوست ** که اصبع لاغر ز زورش نقش بست
- A third ant said, “It is the work of the arm, by whose strength the slender finger depicted it.”
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هم‌چنین می‌رفت بالا تا یکی ** مهتر موران فطن بود اندکی 3725
- In this fashion it (the argument) was carried upward till a chief of the ants, (who) was a little bit sagacious,
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گفت کز صورت مبینید این هنر ** که به خواب و مرگ گردد بی‌خبر
- Said, “Do not regard this accomplishment as proceeding from the (material) form, which becomes unconscious in sleep and death.
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صورت آمد چون لباس و چون عصا ** جز به عقل و جان نجنبد نقشها
- Form is like a garment or a staff: (bodily) figures do not move except by means of intellect and spirit.”
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بی‌خبر بود او که آن عقل و فاد ** بی ز تقلیب خدا باشد جماد
- He (the wise ant) was unaware that without the controlling influence of God that intellect and heart (mind) would be inert.
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یک زمان از وی عنایت بر کند ** عقل زیرک ابلهیها می‌کند
- If He withdraw His favour from it for a single moment, the acute intellect will commit (many) follies.
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چونش گویا یافت ذوالقرنین گفت ** چونک کوه قاف در نطق سفت 3730
- When Dhu ’l-Qarnayn found it (Mount Qáf) speaking, he said, after Mount Qáf had bored the pearls of speech,
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کای سخن‌گوی خبیر رازدان ** از صفات حق بکن با من بیان
- “O eloquent one, who art wise and knowest the mystery, expound to me the Attributes of God.”