کرد مردی از سخن‌دانی سال ** حق و باطل چیست ای نیکو مقال
A certain man asked an eloquent person, “What are truth and falsehood, O man of goodly discourse?”
گوش را بگرفت و گفت این باطلست ** چشم حقست و یقینش حاصلست
He took hold of his ear and said, “This is false: the eye is true and possesses certainty.”
آن به نسبت باطل آمد پیش این ** نسبتست اغلب سخنها ای امین
The former is relatively false as compared with the latter: most sayings are relative, O trusty one.
ز آفتاب ار کرد خفاش احتجاب ** نیست محجوب از خیال آفتاب 3910
If the bat screens itself from the sun, (yet) it is not screened from the fancy (idea) of the sun.
خوف او را خود خیالش می‌دهد ** آن خیالش سوی ظلمت می‌کشد
Even the fancy (idea) of it (the sun) puts fear into it (the bat): that fancy leads it towards the darkness.
آن خیال نور می‌ترساندش ** بر شب ظلمات می‌چفساندش
That fancy (idea) of the light terrifies it and causes it to become attached to the night of gloom.
از خیال دشمن و تصویر اوست ** که تو بر چفسیده‌ای بر یار و دوست
’Tis from the fancy (idea) and the picture (thou hast formed) of thy enemy that thou hast become attached to thy comrade and friend.
موسیا کشفت لمع بر که فراشت ** آن مخیل تاب تحقیقت نداشت
O Moses, the revelation given to thee illumined the mountain, (but) the fancy conceiving (mountain) could not endure thy real experience (of the revelation).
هین مشو غره بدانک قابلی ** مر خیالش را و زین ره واصلی 3915
Hark, be not deluded by (the belief) that thou art able to conceive the fancy (idea) thereof and by this means canst attain (to the reality).
از خیال حرب نهراسید کس ** لا شجاعه قبل حرب این دان و بس
No one was ever terrified by the (mere) fancy (idea) of war: there is no bravery before (actual) war. Know this, and ’tis enough.
بر خیال حرب خیز اندر فکر ** می‌کند چون رستمان صد کر و فر
(Possessed) with the fancy (idea) of war, the poltroon makes, in his thoughts, a hundred heroic attacks (on the enemy).
نقش رستم که آن به حمامی بود ** قرن حمله فکر هر خامی بود
The antagonist (conceived) in the mind of every raw (weakling) is the picture of Rustam that may be (found) in a bath-house.
این خیال سمع چون مبصر شود ** حیز چه بود رستمی مضطر شود
When this fancy (idea) derived from hearing becomes (actually) visible, what of the poltroon? (Even) a Rustam (hero) is compelled (to submit).
جهد کن کز گوش در چشمت رود ** آنچ که آن باطل بدست آن حق شود 3920
Endeavour that it (the fancy) may pass from thine ear into thine eye, and that what has (hitherto) been unreal may become real.
زان سپس گوشت شود هم طبع چشم ** گوهری گردد دو گوش هم‌چو یشم
After that, thine ear will become connatural with thine eye: the two ears, (gross) as wool, will become of pure substance (and subtle);
بلک جمله تن چو آیینه شود ** جمله چشم و گوهر سینه شود
Nay, thy whole body will become like a mirror: it will become all eye and pure spiritual substance.
گوش انگیزد خیال و آن خیال ** هست دلاله‌ی وصال آن جمال
The ear rouses a fancy, and that fancy is the go-between (that leads) to union with that Beauty.
جهد کن تا این خیال افزون شود ** تا دلاله رهبر مجنون شود
Endeavour that this fancy may increase, so that the go-between may become a guide for Majnún.
آن خلیفه گول هم یک چند نیز ** ریش گاوی کرد خوش با آن کنیز 3925
That foolish Caliph, too, was mightily infatuated for awhile with that girl.
ملک را تو ملک غرب و شرق گیر ** چون نمی‌ماند تو آن را برق گیر
Suppose the (monarch's) empire is the empire of the West and the East: since it will not remain, deem it to be (as fleeting as) a lightning-flash.
مملکت کان می‌نماند جاودان ** ای دلت خفته تو آن را خواب دان
O thou whose heart is slumbering (heedless), know that the kingdom that does not remain unto everlasting is (but) a dream.
تا چه خواهی کرد آن باد و بروت ** که بگیرد هم‌چو جلادی گلوت
Consider what thou wilt do with (all) that vanity and vainglory; for (ultimately) it will grip thy throat like an executioner.
هم درین عالم بدان که مامنیست ** از منافق کم شنو کو گفت نیست
Know that even in this world there is a safe refuge: do not listen to the hypocrite who says there is none.
حجت منکران آخرت و بیان ضعف آن حجت زیرا حجت ایشان به دین باز می‌گردد کی غیر این نمی‌بینیم
The argument of those who disbelieve in the after-life, and a demonstration of the weakness of that argument, since their argument amounts to “We do not see any other (world) than this.”
حجتش اینست گوید هر دمی ** گر بدی چیزی دگر هم دیدمی 3930
This is his (the hypocrite's) argument: he says at every moment, “If there were anything else, I should have seen it.”
گر نبیند کودکی احوال عقل ** عاقلی هرگز کند از عقل نقل
If a child does not see the various aspects of reason, will a rational person ever abandon reason?