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تاب لطفش را تو یکسان هم مدان ** سنگ را و لعل را داد او نشان
- Yet deem not the radiance of His grace to be uniform: it has given a sign (distinctive character) to the pebble and the ruby.
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لعل را زان هست گنج مقتبس ** سنگ را گرمی و تابانی و بس
- From that (radiance) the ruby has a borrowed treasure, (while) the pebble has only heat and brightness.
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آنک بر دیوار افتد آفتاب ** آنچنان نبود کز آب و اضطراب
- (The radiance of) the sun falling on a wall is not the same as (when it is reflected) from water and quivering movement.
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چون دمی حیران شد از وی شاه فرد ** روی خود سوی عماد الملک کرد 3455
- After the peerless king had been astounded by (gazing at) it (the horse) for a moment, he turned his face to the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk,
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کای اچی بس خوب اسپی نیست این ** از بهشتست این مگر نه از زمین
- Saying, “O vizier, is not this an exceedingly beautiful horse? Surely it belongs to Paradise, not to the earth.”
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پس عماد الملک گفتش ای خدیو ** چون فرشته گردد از میل تو دیو
- Thereupon the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk said to him, “O emperor, a demon is made angelic by thy (fond) inclination.
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در نظر آنچ آوری گردید نیک ** بس گش و رعناست این مرکب ولیک
- That on which thou lookest (fondly) becomes (appears good (to thee). This steed is very handsome and graceful, and yet
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هست ناقص آن سر اندر پیکرش ** چون سر گاوست گویی آن سرش
- The head is a blemish in its (elegant) form: you might say that its head is like the head of an ox.”
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در دل خوارمشه این دم کار کرد ** اسپ را در منظر شه خوار کرد 3460
- These words worked on the heart of the Khwárizmsháh and caused the horse to be cheap in the king's sight.
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چون غرض دلاله گشت و واصفی ** از سه گز کرباس یابی یوسفی
- When prejudice becomes a go-between and describer (of beauty), you may get (buy) a Joseph for three ells of linen.
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چونک هنگام فراق جان شود ** دیو دلال در ایمان شود
- When the hour arrives for the spirit's parting (from the body), the Devil becomes a broker (depreciator) of the pearl of Faith,
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پس فروشد ابله ایمان را شتاب ** اندر آن تنگی به یک ابریق آب
- And then in that (moment of) sore distress the fool hastily sells his faith for a jug of water;
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وان خیالی باشد و ابریق نی ** قصد آن دلال جز تخریق نی
- But ’tis a (mere) phantom and not (really) a jug: the aim of the broker (the Devil) is naught but trickery.
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این زمان که تو صحیح و فربهی ** صدق را بهر خیالی میدهی 3465
- At this (present) time, when you are healthy and fat, you are giving up the Truth for a phantom.
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میفروشی هر زمانی در کان ** همچو طفلی میستانی گردگان
- You are constantly selling the pearls of the (spiritual) mine and taking walnuts (in exchange), like a child;
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پس در آن رنجوری روز اجل ** نیست نادر گر بود اینت عمل
- Therefore it is no wonder if you act in this (same) way in the (mortal) sickness of your day of doom (death).
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در خیالت صورتی جوشیدهای ** همچو جوزی وقت دق پوسیدهای
- You have concocted an idea (a vain notion) in your fancy: when you are rattled (tested) like a walnut, you are (proved to be) rotten.
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هست از آغاز چون بدر آن خیال ** لیک آخر میشود همچون هلال
- In the beginning that phantom resembles the full-moon, but in the end it will become like the new-moon.
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گر تو اول بنگری چون آخرش ** فارغ آیی از فریب فاترش 3470
- If you regard its first (state) as being (really) like its last (state), you will be quit of its feeble deception.
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جوز پوسیدهست دنیا ای امین ** امتحانش کم کن از دورش ببین
- This world is a rotten walnut: O man of trust, do not make trial of it, (but) behold it from afar.
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شاه دید آن اسپ را با چشم حال ** وآن عمادالملک با چشم مل
- The king viewed the horse with regard to the present, while the ‘Imádu ’l- Mulk (viewed it) with regard to the future.
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چشم شه دو گز همی دید از لغز ** چشم آن پایاننگر پنجاه گز
- The king's eye, because of (its) distortion, saw (only) two ells, (but) the eye of him who regarded the end saw fifty ells.
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آن چه سرمهست آنک یزدان میکشد ** کز پس صد پرده بیند جان رشد
- What a (wondrous) collyrium is that which God applies (to the spiritual eye), so that the spirit discerns the truth behind a hundred curtains!
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چشم مهتر چون به آخر بود جفت ** پس بدان دیده جهان را جیفه گفت 3475
- Since the Chief's (the Prophet's) eye was ever fixed on the end, by reason of (seeing with) that eye he called the world a carcase.
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زین یکی ذمش که بشنود او وحسپ ** پس فسرد اندر دل شه مهر اسپ
- On hearing only this single (word of) blame from him (the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk), the love (that was) in the king's heart for the horse became chilled.