زن نمی‌‌دانست کانجا بر گذر ** هست جاری دجله‌‌ی همچون شکر
The wife did not know that in that place (Baghdád) on the thoroughfare there is running the Tigris (whose water is) sweet as sugar,
در میان شهر چون دریا روان ** پر ز کشتیها و شست ماهیان
Flowing like a sea through the city, full of boats and fishing-nets.
رو بر سلطان و کار و بار بین ** حس تجری تحتها الأنهار بین
Go to the Sultan and behold this pomp and state! Behold the senses of (those for whom God hath prepared gardens) beneath which the rivers flow!
این چنین حسها و ادراکات ما ** قطره‌‌ای باشد در آن نهر صفا
Our senses and perceptions, such as they are, are (but) a single drop in that pure river.
در نمد دوختن زن عرب سبوی آب باران را و مهر نهادن بر وی از غایت اعتقاد عرب
How the Arab's wife sewed the jug of rain-water in a felt cloth and put a seal on it because of the Arab's utter conviction (that it was a precious gift for the King).
مرد گفت آری سبو را سر ببند ** هین که این هدیه ست ما را سودمند2720
“Yes,” said the husband, “stop up the mouth of the jug. Take care, for this is a gift that will bring us profit.
در نمد در دوز تو این کوزه را ** تا گشاید شه به هدیه روزه را
Sew this jug in felt, that the King may break his fast with our gift,
کاین چنین اندر همه آفاق نیست ** جز رحیق و مایه‌‌ی اذواق نیست
For there is no (water) like this in all the world: it is naught but pure wine and the source of pleasures (to the taste).”
ز آن که ایشان ز آبهای تلخ و شور ** دایما پر علت‌‌اند و نیم کور
(This he said) because they (people like him) are always full of infirmity and half-blind from (drinking) bitter and briny waters.
مرغ کآب شور باشد مسکنش ** او چه داند جای آب روشنش
The bird whose dwelling-place is the briny water, how should it know where to find in it the clear (and sweet) water?
ای که اندر چشمه‌ی شورست جان ** تو چه دانی شط و جیحون و فرات2725
O thou whose abode is in the briny spring, how shouldst thou know the Shatt and the Jayhún and the Euphrates?