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517-541

  • حرص بط یکتاست این پنجاه تاست  ** حرص شهوت مار و منصب اژدهاست 
  • The greed of the duck is single, (but) this (greed of the peacock) is fiftyfold: the greed of lust is (only) a snake, while this (greed for) eminence is a dragon.

  • حرص بط از شهوت حلقست و فرج  ** در ریاست بیست چندانست درج 
  • The duck's greed arises from the appetite of the gullet and pudendum, (but) twenty times as much (greed) is included in (the ambition to) rule.

  • از الوهیت زند در جاه لاف  ** طامع شرکت کجا باشد معاف 
  • He (who is) in power (really) pretends to Divinity: how should one ambitious of co-partnership (with God) be saved?

  • زلت آدم ز اشکم بود و باه  ** وآن ابلیس از تکبر بود و جاه  520
  • The sin of Adam arose from the belly and sexual intercourse, and that of Iblís from pride and power.

  • لاجرم او زود استغفار کرد  ** وآن لعین از توبه استکبار کرد 
  • Consequently, he (Adam) at once besought pardon, while the accursed (Iblís) disdained to repent.

  • حرص حلق و فرج هم خود بدرگیست  ** لیک منصب نیست آن اشکستگیست 
  • The greed of the gullet and pudendum is in truth (a mark of) depravity; but it is not (headstrong like) ambition: it is abasement.

  • بیخ و شاخ این ریاست را اگر  ** باز گویم دفتری باید دگر 
  • If I should relate the root and branch (the whole story) of dominion, another Book would be needed.

  • اسپ سرکش را عرب شیطانش خواند  ** نی ستوری را که در مرعی بماند 
  • The Arabs called a restive (high-spirited) horse a “devil” (shaytán); (they did) not (give that name to) the beast of burden that stayed (quietly) in the pasture.

  • شیطنت گردن کشی بد در لغت  ** مستحق لعنت آمد این صفت  525
  • “Devilry” (shaytanat) in lexicology is (synonymous with) “rebelliousness”: this quality is deserving of execration.

  • این جهان محدود و آن خود بی حدست ** نقش و صورت پیش آن معنی سدست
  • There is room for a hundred eaters (guests) round a table, (but) there is not room in the (whole) world for two seekers of dominion.

  • آن نخواهد کین بود بر پشت خاک  ** تا ملک بکشد پدر را ز اشتراک 
  • The one is not willing that the other should be on the surface of the earth; so that a prince kills his father for partaking with him (in sovereignty).

  • آن شنیدستی که الملک عقیم  ** قطع خویشی کرد ملکت‌جو ز بیم 
  • Thou hast heard (the saying) that kingship is childless: the seeker of sovereignty has cut (the ties of) relationship because of (his) fear;

  • که عقیمست و ورا فرزند نیست  ** هم‌چو آتش با کسش پیوند نیست 
  • For he is childless and has no son: like fire, he has no kinship with any one.

  • هر چه یابد او بسوزد بر درد  ** چون نیابد هیچ خود را می‌خورد  530
  • Whatsoever he finds he destroys and tears to pieces: when he finds nothing, he devours himself.

  • هیچ شو وا ره تو از دندان او  ** رحم کم جو از دل سندان او 
  • Become naught, escape from his teeth: do not seek mercy from his (hard) anvil-like heart.

  • چونک گشتی هیچ از سندان مترس  ** هر صباح از فقر مطلق گیر درس 
  • After thou hast become naught, do not fear the anvil: take lessons every morning from absolute poverty.

  • هست الوهیت ردای ذوالجلال  ** هر که در پوشد برو گردد وبال 
  • Divinity is the mantle of the Lord of glory: it becomes a plague to any one who puts it on.

  • تاج از آن اوست آن ما کمر  ** وای او کز حد خود دارد گذر 
  • His (God's) is the crown (of sovereignty), ours the belt (of servitude): woe to him that passes beyond his proper bound!

  • فتنه‌ی تست این پر طاووسیت  ** که اشتراکت باید و قدوسیت  535
  • Thy peacock-feathers are a (sore) temptation to thee, for thou must needs have co-partnership (with God) and All-holiness.

  • قصه‌ی آن حکیم کی دید طاوسی را کی پر زیبای خود را می‌کند به منقار و می‌انداخت و تن خود را کل و زشت می‌کرد از تعجب پرسید کی دریغت نمی‌آید گفت می‌آید اما پیش من جان از پر عزیزتر است و این پر عدوی جان منست 
  • Story of the Sage who saw a peacock tearing out his handsome feathers with his beak and dropping them (on the ground) and making himself bald and ugly. In astonishment he asked, “Hast thou no feeling of regret?” “I have,” said the peacock, “but life is dearer to me than feathers, and these (feathers) are the enemy of my life.”

  • پر خود می‌کند طاوسی به دشت  ** یک حکیمی رفته بود آنجا بگشت 
  • A peacock was tearing out his feathers in the open country, where a sage had gone for a walk.

  • گفت طاوسا چنین پر سنی  ** بی‌دریغ از بیخ چون برمی‌کنی 
  • He said, “O peacock, how art thou tearing out such fine feathers remorselessly from the root?

  • خود دلت چون می‌دهد تا این حلل  ** بر کنی اندازیش اندر وحل 
  • How indeed is thy heart consenting that thou shouldst tear off these gorgeous robes and let them fall in the mud?

  • هر پرت را از عزیزی و پسند  ** حافظان در طی مصحف می‌نهند 
  • Those who commit the Qur’án to memory place every feather of thine, on account of its being prized and acceptable, within the folding of the (Holy) Book.

  • بهر تحریک هوای سودمند  ** از پر تو بادبیزن می‌کنند  540
  • For the sake of stirring the healthful air thy feathers are used as fans.

  • این چه ناشکری و چه بی‌باکیست  ** تو نمی‌دانی که نقاشش کیست 
  • What ingratitude and what recklessness is this! Dost not thou know who is their decorator?