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حرف قرآن را ضریران معدناند ** خر نبینند و به پالان بر زنند
- The blind are a mine (full) of the letter of the Qur’án: they do not see the ass, and (only) cling to the pack-saddle.
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چون تو بینایی پی خر رو که جست ** چند پالان دوزی ای پالان پرست
- Since you have sight, go after the ass which has jumped (away from you): how long (will you persist in) stitching the saddle, O saddle-worshipper?
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خر چو هست آید یقین پالان ترا ** کم نگردد نان چو باشد جان ترا 725
- When the ass is there, the saddle will certainly be yours: bread does not fail when you have the (vital) spirit.
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پشت خر دکان و مال و مکسب است ** در قلبت مایهی صد قالب است
- (On) the back of the ass is shop and wealth and gain; the pearl of your heart is the stock (which provides wealth) for a hundred bodies.
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خر برهنه بر نشین ای بو الفضول ** خر برهنه نه که راکب شد رسول
- Mount the ass bare-backed, O busybody: did not the Prophet ride the ass bare-backed?
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النبی قد رکب معروریا ** و النبی قیل سافر ماشیا
- The Prophet rode (his beast) bare-backed; and the Prophet, it is said, journeyed on foot.
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شد خر نفس تو بر میخیش بند ** چند بگریزد ز کار و بار چند
- The ass, your fleshly soul, has gone off; tie it to a peg. How long will it run away from work and burden, how long?
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بار صبر و شکر او را بردنی است ** خواه در صد سال و خواهی سی و بیست 730
- It must bear the burden of patience and thanksgiving, whether for a hundred years or for thirty or twenty.
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هیچ وازر وزر غیری بر نداشت ** هیچ کس ندرود تا چیزی نکاشت
- None that is laden supported another's load; none reaped until he sowed something.
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طمع خام است آن مخور خام ای پسر ** خام خوردن علت آرد در بشر
- ’Tis a raw (absurd) hope; eat not what is raw, O son: eating raw brings illness to men.
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کان فلانی یافت گنجی ناگهان ** من همان خواهم نه کار و نه دکان
- (Do not say to yourself), “So-and-so suddenly found a treasure; I would like the same: neither work nor shop (for me)!”
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کار بخت است آن و آن هم نادر است ** کسب باید کرد تا تن قادر است
- That (discovery of treasure) is Fortune's doing (a piece of luck), and moreover it is rare: one must earn a living so long as the body is able.
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کسب کردن گنج را مانع کی است ** پا مکش از کار آن خود در پی است 735
- How does earning a livelihood prevent the (discovery of) treasure? Do not retire from work: that (treasure), indeed, is (following) behind (the work).
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تا نگردی تو گرفتار اگر ** که اگر این کردمی یا آن دگر
- See that you are not made captive by “if,” saying, “If I had done this or the other (thing),”
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کز اگر گفتن رسول با وفاق ** منع کرد و گفت آن هست از نفاق
- For the sincere Prophet forbade (people) to say “if,” and said, “That is from hypocrisy”;
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کان منافق در اگر گفتن بمرد ** وز اگر گفتن بجز حسرت نبرد
- For the hypocrite died in saying “if,” and from saying “if” he won nothing but remorse.
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مثل
- Parable.
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آن غریبی خانه میجست از شتاب ** دوستی بردش سوی خانهی خراب
- A certain stranger was hastily seeking a house: a friend took him to a house in ruins.
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گفت او این را اگر سقفی بدی ** پهلوی من مر ترا مسکن شدی 740
- He said (to the stranger), “If this (house) had a roof, it would be a home for you beside me.
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هم عیال تو بیاسودی اگر ** در میانه داشتی حجرهی دگر
- Your family too would be comfortable, if it had another room in it.”
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گفت آری پهلوی یاران خوش است ** لیک ای جان در اگر نتوان نشست
- “Yes,” said he, “it is nice (to be) beside friends, but my dear soul, one cannot lodge in ‘if’.”
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این همه عالم طلبکار خوشند ** وز خوش تزویر اندر آتشند
- All the world are seekers of happiness, and on account of a false happiness they are in the fire.
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طالب زر گشته جمله پیر و خام ** لیک قلب از زر نداند چشم عام
- Old and young have become gold-seekers, but the common eye does not distinguish alloy from gold.
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پرتوی بر قلب زد خالص ببین ** بیمحک زر را مکن از ظن گزین 745
- The pure (gold) shot a beam on the alloy: see that you choose not the gold on the ground of (mere) opinion, without a touchstone.
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گر محک داری گزین کن ور نه رو ** نزد دانا خویشتن را کن گرو
- If you have a touchstone, choose; otherwise, go, devote yourself to him that knows (the difference).
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یا محک باید میان جان خویش ** ور ندانی ره مرو تنها تو پیش
- Either you must have a touchstone within your own soul, or if you know not the Way, do not go forward alone.