تو همی‌گویی عجب خامش چراست ** او همی‌گوید عجب گوشش کجاست
You say, “I wonder why he is silent”; he says (to himself), “How strange! Where is his ear?
من ز نعره کر شدم او بی‌خبر ** تیزگوشان زین سمر هستند کر
I am deafened by the shrieks, (yet) he is unaware (of them).” The (apparently) sharp-eared are (in fact) deaf to this (mystical) converse.
آن یکی در خواب نعره می‌زند ** صد هزاران بحث و تلقین می‌کند
(For example), some one cries aloud in his dream and gives a hundred thousand discussions and communications,
این نشسته پهلوی او بی‌خبر ** خفته خود آنست و کر زان شور و شر
(While) this (other), sitting beside him, is unaware (of it): ’tis really he who is asleep and deaf to (all) that turmoil and tumult.
وان کسی کش مرکب چوبین شکست ** غرقه شد در آب او خود ماهیست 4630
And he whose wooden horse is shattered and sunk in the water (of the sea), he in sooth is the fish.
نه خموشست و نه گویا نادریست ** حال او را در عبارت نام نیست
He is neither silent nor speaking: he is a marvel: there is no name to describe his state.
نیست زین دو هر دو هست آن بوالعجب ** شرح این گفتن برونست از ادب
He does not belong to these two (categories), (and yet) that prodigy is (really) both: to explain this would transgress the limits of due reverence.
این مثال آمد رکیک و بی‌ورود ** لیک در محسوس ازین بهتر نبود
This comparison is poor and unsuccessful, but in the sensible (world) there was none better than this (to be found).
متوفی شدن بزرگین از شه‌زادگان و آمدن برادر میانین به جنازه‌ی برادر کی آن کوچکین صاحب‌فراش بود از رنجوری و نواختن پادشاه میانین را تا او هم لنگ احسان شد ماند پیش پادشاه صد هزار از غنایم غیبی و غنی بدو رسید از دولت و نظر آن شاه مع تقریر بعضه
The death of the eldest prince, and how the middle brother came to his funeral—for the youngest was confined to his bed by illness; and how the King treated the middle brother with great affection, so that he too was crippled (captivated) by his kindness; (and how) he remained with the King, and a hundred thousand spoils (precious gifts), from the unseen and visible worlds, were conferred upon him by the fortune and favour of the King; with an exposition of some part thereof.
کوچکین رنجور بود و آن وسط ** بر جنازه‌ی آن بزرگ آمد فقط
The youngest (brother) was ill, and (so) the middle one came alone to the funeral of the eldest.
شاه دیدش گفت قاصد کین کیست ** که از آن بحرست و این هم ماهیست 4635
(When) the King espied him, he said with a purpose, “Who is this?—for he is of that sea, and he too is a fish.”