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گفت من دریا و کشتی خواندهام ** مدتی در فکر آن میماندهام
- “I have called (them) sea and ship,” said he; “I have been pondering over that (interpretation) for a long while.
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اینک این دریا و این کشتی و من ** مرد کشتیبان و اهل و رایزن
- Look! here is this sea and this ship, and I am the pilot and skilled (in navigation) and judicious.”
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بر سر دریا همیراند او عمد ** مینمودش آن قدر بیرون ز حد 1085
- He was propelling the raft on the “sea”: that (small) quantity appeared to him illimitable.
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بود بیحد آن چمین نسبت بدو ** آن نظر که بیند آن را راست کو
- That urine was boundless in relation to him: where was the vision that should see it truly?
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عالمش چندان بود کش بینش است ** چشم چندین بحر هم چندینش است
- His world extends (just) as far as his sight reaches; his eye is so big, his “sea” is big in the same proportion.
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صاحب تاویل باطل چون مگس ** وهم او بول خر و تصویر خس
- So with the false interpreter (of the Qur’án): like the fly, his imagination is (foul as) ass's urine and his conception (worthless as) a straw.
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گر مگس تاویل بگذارد به رای ** آن مگس را بخت گرداند همای
- If the fly leave off interpreting by (following his own) opinion, Fortune will turn that fly into a humáy.
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آن مگس نبود کش این عبرت بود ** روح او نی در خور صورت بود 1090
- One who possesses this (Divine) indication (of the true meaning) is not a fly: his spirit is not analogous to his (outward) form.
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تولیدن شیر از دیر آمدن خرگوش
- How the lion roared wrathfully because the hare was late in coming.
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همچو آن خرگوش کاو بر شیر زد ** روح او کی بود اندر خورد قد
- As (for example) the hare who struck against the lion: how was his spirit analogous to his stature?
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شیر میگفت از سر تیزی و خشم ** کز ره گوشم عدو بر بست چشم
- The lion from fury and rage was saying, “By means of my ear the enemy has bound up my eye.