ور نباشد صبر پس نادیده به ** تیر دور اولی ز مرد بی‌زره 640
But if he have not self-restraint, then it were better he had not seen (the food): ’tis better the arrow should be far from the man who is without a coat of mail.
جواب گفتن طاوس آن سایل را
The answer of the peacock to his interrogator.
چون ز گریه فارغ آمد گفت رو ** که تو رنگ و بوی را هستی گرو
When he (the peacock) had finished weeping, he said, “Begone, for thou art in pawn (bondage) to colour and perfume.
آن نمی‌بینی که هر سو صد بلا ** سوی من آید پی این بالها
Dost not thou perceive that on account of these feathers a hundred afflictions approach me on every side?
ای بسا صیاد بی‌رحمت مدام ** بهر این پرها نهد هر سوم دام
Oh, many a pitiless fowler always lays a trap for me everywhere for the sake of these feathers.
چند تیرانداز بهر بالها ** تیر سوی من کشد اندر هوا
How many an archer, for the sake of my plumage, shoots arrows at me (when I am) in the air!
چون ندارم زور و ضبط خویشتن ** زین قضا و زین بلا و زین فتن 645
Since I have not strength and self-control (to preserve me) from this destiny and this affliction and these tribulations,
آن به آید که شوم زشت و کریه ** تا بوم آمن درین کهسار و تیه
’Tis better I should be ugly and hideous, that I may be safe amidst these mountains and deserts.
این سلاح عجب من شد ای فتی ** عجب آرد معجبان را صد بلا
These (feathers) are the weapons of my pride, O noble sir: pride brings a hundred afflictions on the proud.
بیان آنک هنرها و زیرکیها و مال دنیا هم‌چون پرهای طاوس عدو جانست
Explaining that accomplishments and intellectual abilities and worldly wealth are enemies to (spiritual) life, like the peacock's feathers.
پس هنر آمد هلاکت خام را ** کز پی دانه نبیند دام را
Accomplishments, then, are a destruction to the (spiritually) ignorant man, for in his pursuit of the bait he does not see the trap.
اختیار آن را نکو باشد که او ** مالک خود باشد اندر اتقوا
Free-will is good for him (alone) who is master of himself in (respect of obeying the command) ‘Fear ye (God).’