گر بگویم نیم شب پیش توام ** هین مترس از شب که من خویش توام‏

If at midnight I say, “I am near you: come now, be not afraid of the night, for I am your kinsman,”

این دو دعوی پیش تو معنی بود ** چون شناسی بانگ خویشاوند خود 3575

These two assertions are to you reality, since you recognise the voice of your own relative.

پیشی و خویشی دو دعوی بود لیک ** هر دو معنی بود پیش فهم نیک‏

Nearness and kinship were (only) two assertions, but both (of them) were reality to the good understanding.

قرب آوازش گواهی می‏دهد ** کاین دم از نزدیک یاری می‏جهد

The proximity of the voice gives him (the hearer) testimony that these words spring from a near friend;

لذت آواز خویشاوند نیز ** شد گوا بر صدق آن خویش عزیز

Moreover, (his) delight at (hearing) the voice of his kinsman has borne witness to the truthfulness of that dear relative.

باز بی‏الهام احمق کاو ز جهل ** می‏نداند بانگ بیگانه ز اهل‏

Again, the uninspired fool who in his ignorance does not know a stranger's voice from a kinsman's—

پیش او دعوی بود گفتار او ** جهل او شد مایه‏ی انکار او 3580

To him his (the speaker's) words are (mere) assertion: his ignorance has become the source of his disbelief;

پیش زیرک کاندرونش نورهاست ** عین این آواز معنی بود راست‏

(But) to him of keen insight, within whom are the (spiritual) lights, the very nature of this voice was just the (immediate evidence of its) reality.

یا به تازی گفت یک تازی زبان ** که همی‏دانم زبان تازیان‏

Or (for example) one whose mother-tongue is Arabic says in Arabic, “I know the language of the Arabs.”

عین تازی گفتنش معنی بود ** گر چه تازی گفتنش دعوی بود

The very fact of his speaking in Arabic is (evidence of) the reality (of his assertion), although his saying (that he knows) Arabic is (only) an assertion.