ای ایاز این کار را زوتر گزار ** زانک نوعی انتقامست انتظار
“O Ayáz, finish this affair quickly, for expectation is a sort of vengeance.”
تعجیل فرمودن پادشاه ایاز را کی زود این حکم را به فیصل رسان و منتظر مدار و ایام بیننا مگو کی الانتظار موت الاحمر و جواب گفتن ایاز شاه را
How the King bade Ayáz make haste, saying, “Give judgement and bring the matter to decision immediately, and do not keep them waiting or say, ‘We shall meet after some days,’ for expectation is the red death”; and how Ayáz answered the King.
گفت ای شه جملگی فرمان تراست ** با وجود آفتاب اختر فناست
He said, “O King, the command belongs entirely to thee: when the sun is there, the star is naughted.
زهره کی بود یا عطارد یا شهاب ** کو برون آید به پیش آفتاب 2135
Who is Venus or Mercury or a meteor that they should come forth in the presence of the sun?
گر ز دلق و پوستین بگذشتمی ** کی چنین تخم ملامت کشتمی
If I had omitted (to look at) the cloak and sheepskin, how should I have sown such seeds of blame?
قفل کردن بر در حجره چه بود ** در میان صد خیالیی حسود
What was the (use of) putting a lock on the door of the chamber amidst a hundred envious persons addicted to false imagination?
دست در کرده درون آب جو ** هر یکی زیشان کلوخ خشک‌جو
Every one of them, having put his hand into the river-water, seeks (to find there) a dry sod.
پس کلوخ خشک در جو کی بود ** ماهیی با آب عاصی کی شود
How, then, should there be a dry sod in the river? How should a fish become disobedient to the sea?
بر من مسکین جفا دارند ظن ** که وفا را شرم می‌آید ز من 2140
They impute iniquity to poor me, before whom loyalty (itself) is ashamed.”
گر نبودی زحمت نامحرمی ** چند حرفی از وفا واگفتمی
Were it not for the trouble caused by a person unfamiliar (with my meaning), I would have spoken a few words concerning loyalty;
چون جهانی شبهت و اشکال‌جوست ** حرف می‌رانیم ما بیرون پوست
(But) since a world (multitude of people) is seeking (to raise) doubt and difficulty, we will let the discourse run beyond the skin.