آنک مردن پیش چشمش تهلکه‌ست ** امر لا تلقوا بگیرد او به دست
That one in whose eyes death is destruction—he takes hold of (clings to) the (Divine) command, “Do not cast (yourselves into destruction)”;
و آنک مردن پیش او شد فتح باب ** سارعوا آید مرورا در خطاب3435
And that one to whom death is the opening of the gate—for him in the (Divine) Allocution (the Qur’án) there is (the command), “Vie ye with each other in hastening.”
الحذر ای مرگ‌بینان بارعوا ** العجل ای حشربینان سارعوا
Beware, O ye who regard death! Surpass one another (in dread of death)! Quick, O ye who regard the Resurrection! Vie ye with each other in hastening!
الصلا ای لطف‌بینان افرحوا ** البلا ای قهربینان اترحوا
Welcome, O ye who regard the (Divine) grace! Rejoice! Woe (to you), O ye who regard the (Divine) wrath! Be sorrowful!
هر که یوسف دید جان کردش فدی ** هر که گرگش دید برگشت از هدی
Whosoever deems it (death) to be (lovely as) Joseph gives up his soul in ransom for it; whosoever deems it to be (like) the wolf turns back from (the path of) right guidance.
مرگ هر یک ای پسر همرنگ اوست ** پیش دشمن دشمن و بر دوست دوست
Every one's death is of the same quality as himself, my lad: to the enemy (of God) an enemy, and to the friend (of God) a friend.
پیش ترک آیینه را خوش رنگیست ** پیش زنگی آینه هم زنگیست3440
In the eyes of the Turcoman the mirror hath a fair colour; similarly in the eyes of the Ethiopian the mirror is (dark as) an Ethiopian.
آنک می‌ترسی ز مرگ اندر فرار ** آن ز خود ترسانی ای جان هوش دار
Your fear of death in fleeing (from it) is (really) your fear of yourself. Take heed, O (dear) soul!
روی زشت تست نه رخسار مرگ ** جان تو همچون درخت و مرگ برگ
’Tis your (own) ugly face, not the visage of Death: your spirit is like the tree, and death (is like) the leaf.
از تو رستست ار نکویست ار بدست ** ناخوش و خوش هر ضمیرت از خودست
It has grown from you, whether it is good or evil: every hidden thought of yours, foul or fair, is (born) from yourself.
گر بخاری خسته‌ای خود کشته‌ای ** ور حریر و قزدری خود رشته‌ای
If you are wounded by a thorn, you yourself have sown; and if you are (clad) in satin and silk, you yourself have spun.
دانک نبود فعل همرنگ جزا ** هیچ خدمت نیست همرنگ عطا3445
Know that the act is not of the same complexion as the requital: the service is nowise of the same complexion as the payment given (in return for it).
مزد مزدوران نمی‌ماند بکار ** کان عرض وین جوهرست و پایدار
The labourers' wage does not resemble the work, inasmuch as the latter is the accident, while the former is the substance and permanent.
آن همه سختی و زورست و عرق ** وین همه سیمست و زرست و طبق
The former is wholly hardship and effort and sweat, while the latter is wholly silver and gold and trays (of food).
گر ترا آید ز جایی تهمتی ** کرد مظلومت دعا در محنتی
If suspicion fall upon you from some quarter, (the reason is that) the person whom you wronged has invoked (God) against you in an affliction (which you have brought upon him).
تو همی‌گویی که من آزاده‌ام ** بر کسی من تهمتی ننهاده‌ام
You say, “I am free (from guilt): I have not laid suspicion on any one.”
تو گناهی کرده‌ای شکل دگر ** دانه کشتی دانه کی ماند به بر3450
(No; but) you have committed another form of sin; you sowed the seed: how should the seed resemble the fruit?
او زنا کرد و جزا صد چوب بود ** گوید او من کی زدم کس را بعود
He (the celibate) committed adultery, and the penalty was a hundred blows with the stick. “When,” says he, “did I strike any one with wood?”
نه جزای آن زنا بود این بلا ** چوب کی ماند زنا را در خلا
Was not this infliction the penalty for that adultery? How should the stick resemble adultery (committed) in secret?
مار کی ماند عصا را ای کلیم ** درد کی ماند دوا را ای حکیم
How should the serpent resemble the rod, O Kalím (Moses)? How should the pain resemble the remedy, O doctor?
تو به جای آن عصا آب منی ** چون بیفکندی شد آن شخص سنی
When you, instead of (casting down) the rod, semen ejecisti (in uterum), that (semen) became (eventually) a fine (human) figure. [When you, instead of (casting down) the rod, ejaculate seminal fluid (into a uterus), that (semen) became (eventually) a fine (human) figure.]
یار شد یا مار شد آن آب تو ** زان عصا چونست این اعجاب تو3455
That semen of yours became a friend (to you) or (like) a (noxious) serpent: why (then) is this astonishment at the rod (of Moses) on your part?
هیچ ماند آب آن فرزند را ** هیچ ماند نیشکر مر قند را
Does the semen at all resemble that child? Does the sugar-cane at all resemble the candy?
چون سجودی یا رکوعی مرد کشت ** شد در آن عالم سجود او بهشت
When a man has sown a prostration (in prayer) or a genuflexion, in yonder world his prostration becomes Paradise.
چونک پرید از دهانش حمد حق ** مرغ جنت ساختش رب الفلق
When praise of God has flown from his mouth, the Lord of the daybreak fashions it into a bird of Paradise.