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?
ای تو نارسته از این فانی رباط ** تو چه دانی محو و سکر و انبساط
O thou who hast not escaped from this fleeting caravanseray (the material world), how shouldst thou know (the meaning of) “self-extinction” and (mystical) “intoxication” and “expansion”?
ور بدانی نقلت از اب وز جد است ** پیش تو این نامها چون ابجد است
And if thou knowest, ’tis (by rote, like the knowledge) handed down to thee from father and grandfather: to thee these names are like abjad.
ابجد و هوز چه فاش است و پدید ** بر همه طفلان و معنی بس بعید
How plain and evident to all children are abjad and hawwaz, and (yet) the real meaning is far away (hard to reach).
پس سبو برداشت آن مرد عرب ** در سفر شد می‌‌کشیدش روز و شب
Then the Arab man took up the jug and set out to journey, carrying it along (with him) day and night.
بر سبو لرزان بد از آفات دهر ** هم کشیدش از بیابان تا به شهر2730
He was trembling for the jug, in fear of Fortune's mischiefs: all the same, he conveyed it from the desert to the city (Baghdád).
زن مصلا باز کرده از نیاز ** رب سلم ورد کرده در نماز
His wife unrolled the prayer-rug in supplication; she made (the words) Rabbi sallim (Save, O Lord) her litany in prayer,
که نگه دار آب ما را از خسان ** یا رب آن گوهر بدان دریا رسان
Crying, “Keep our water safe from scoundrels! O Lord, let that pearl arrive at that sea!
گر چه شویم آگه است و پر فن است ** لیک گوهر را هزاران دشمن است
Although my husband is shrewd and artful, yet the pearl has thousands of enemies.