جمله ادراکات بر خرهای لنگ ** او سوار باد پران چون خدنگ
All perceptions are (mounted) on lame asses; He is mounted on the wind that flies like an arrow.
گر گریزد کس نیابد گرد شه ** ور گریزند او بگیرد پیش ره
If He flee, none (of them) finds the dust of the King; and if they flee, He bars the way in front (of them).
جمله ادراکات را آرام نی ** وقت میدانست وقت جام نی
All the perceptions are unquiet: it is the time for battle, not the time for the (festal) cup.
آن یکی وهمی چو بازی می‌پرد ** وآن دگر چون تیر معبر می‌درد
One perceptive faculty is flying like a falcon, while another, (swift) as an arrow, is tearing its place of passage;
وان دگر چون کشتی با بادبان ** وآن دگر اندر تراجع هر زمان3725
And another is like a ship with sails, and another is turning back every moment.
چون شکاری می‌نمایدشان ز دور ** جمله حمله می‌فزایند آن طیور
When an object of chase appears to them from afar, all those birds (the perceptions) increase (the speed of) their onset.
چونک ناپیدا شود حیران شوند ** همچو جغدان سوی هر ویران شوند
When it vanishes from sight, they become lost: like owls, they go to every wilderness,
منتظر چشمی به هم یک چشم باز ** تا که پیدا گردد آن صید به ناز
Waiting, with one eye closed and one eye open, that the delectable prey may appear.
چون بماند دیر گویند از ملال ** صید بود آن خود عجب یا خود خیال
When it tarries long, they say (from weariness), “We wonder whether it was a (real) prey or a phantom.”
مصلحت آنست تا یک ساعتی ** قوتی گیرند و زور از راحتی3730
The right course is that, for a short while, they should gather come strength and vigour by (taking) a rest.
گر نبودی شب همه خلقان ز آز ** خویشتن را سوختندی ز اهتزاز
If there were no night, on account of cupidity all people would consume themselves by the agitation (of pursuit).
از هوس وز حرص سود اندوختن ** هر کسی دادی بدن را سوختن
From desire and greed of amassing gain, every one would give his body to be consumed.
شب پدید آید چو گنج رحمتی ** تا رهند ازحرص خود یکساعتی
Night appears, like a treasure of mercy, that they may be delivered from their greed for a short while.
چونک قبضی آیدت ای راه‌رو ** آن صلاح تست آتش دل مشو
When a feeling of (spiritual) contraction comes over you, O traveller, ’tis (for) your good: do not become afire (with grief) in your heart,
زآنک در خرجی در آن بسط و گشاد ** خرج را دخلی بباید زاعتداد3735
For in that (contrary state of) expansion and delight you are spending: the expenditure (of enthusiasm) requires an income of (painful) preparation (to balance it).
گر هماره فصل تابستان بدی ** سوزش خورشید در بستان شدی
If it were always the season of summer, the blazing heat of the sun would penetrate the garden
منبتش را سوختی از بیخ و بن ** که دگر تازه نگشتی آن کهن
And burn up from root and bottom the soil whence its plants grow, so that the old (withered) ones would never again become fresh.
گر ترش‌رویست آن دی مشفق است ** صیف خندانست اما محرقست
If December is sour-faced, (yet) it is kind; summer is laughing, but (none the less) it is burning (destroying).
چونک قبض آید تو در وی بسط بین ** تازه باش و چین میفکن در جبین
When (spiritual) contraction comes, behold expansion therein: be fresh (cheerful) and do not let wrinkles fall on your brow.
کودکان خندان و دانایان ترش ** غم جگر را باشد و شادی ز شش3740
Children are laughing, and sages are sour: sorrow appertains to the liver, and joy arises from the lungs.
چشم کودک همچو خر در آخرست ** چشم عاقل در حساب آخرست
The eye of the child, like (that of) the ass, is (fixed) on the stall; the eye of the wise man is (engaged) in reckoning the end.
او در آخر چرب می‌بیند علف ** وین ز قصاب آخرش بیند تلف
He (the child) sees the rich fodder in the stall, while this (wise man) sees his ultimate end to be death by (the hand of) the Butcher.
آن علف تلخست کین قصاب داد ** بهر لحم ما ترازویی نهاد
That fodder is bitter (in the end), for this Butcher gave it: He set up a pair of scales for our flesh.
رو ز حکمت خور علف کان را خدا ** بی غرض دادست از محض عطا
Go, eat the fodder of wisdom which God hath given (us) disinterestedly from pure bounty.
فهم نان کردی نه حکمت ای رهی ** زانچ حق گفتت کلوا من رزقه3745
O slave (to your lusts), you have understood bread, not wisdom, (to be meant) in that (text) which God hath spoken unto you—Eat ye of His provision.