چه زیان استش از آن نقش نفور ** چون که جانش غرق شد در بحر نور
What loss does it suffer from that abhorred shape, inasmuch as its spirit was plunged in the ocean of light?
وصف صورت نیست اندر خامهها ** عالم و عادل بود در نامهها
’Tis not in pens to describe (the outward) form: (what is written) in letters is (qualities like) “learned” and “just”;
عالم و عادل همه معنی است بس ** کش نیابی در مکان و پیش و پس1025
(And qualities like) “learned” and “just” are only the spiritual essence which thou wilt not find in (any) place or in front or behind.
میزند بر تن ز سوی لامکان ** مینگنجد در فلک خورشید جان
The sun of the spirit strikes (with its beams) on the body from the quarter where (the relation of) place does not exist: it (that sun) is not contained in the sky.
ذکر دانش خرگوش و بیان فضیلت و منافع دانستن
An account of the knowledge of the hare and an explanation of the excellence and advantages of knowledge.
این سخن پایان ندارد هوش دار ** گوش سوی قصهی خرگوش دار
This topic hath no end. Give heed! Attend to the story of the hare.
گوش خر بفروش و دیگر گوش خر ** کاین سخن را در نیابد گوش خر
Sell your asinine (corporeal) ear and buy another ear, for the asinine ear will not apprehend this discourse.
رو تو روبه بازی خرگوش بین ** مکر و شیر اندازی خرگوش بین
Go, behold the foxy tricks played by the hare; behold the cunning of the hare and how he overthrew the lion.
خاتم ملک سلیمان است علم ** جمله عالم صورت و جان است علم1030
Knowledge is the seal of the kingdom of Solomon: the whole world is form, and knowledge is the spirit.
آدمی را زین هنر بیچاره گشت ** خلق دریاها و خلق کوه و دشت
Because of this virtue, the creatures of the seas and those of mountain and plain are helpless before man.
زو پلنگ و شیر ترسان همچو موش ** زو نهنگ و بحر در صفرا و جوش
Of him the pard and lion are afraid, like the mouse; from him the leviathan and the sea are in pallor and agitation.