-
دانشی باید که اصلش زان سرست ** زانک هر فرعی به اصلش رهبرست
- (In order to tread this Way) one needs a knowledge whereof the root is Yonder, inasmuch as every branch is a guide to its root.
-
هر پری بر عرض دریا کی پرد ** تا لدن علم لدنی میبرد 1125
- How should every wing fly across the breadth of the Sea? (Only) the esoteric knowledge will bear (thee) to the Presence (of God).
-
پس چرا علمی بیاموزی به مرد ** کش بباید سینه را زان پاک کرد
- Why, then, should you teach a man the knowledge of which it behoves him to purify his breast?
-
پس مجو پیشی ازین سر لنگ باش ** وقت وا گشتن تو پیش آهنگ باش
- Therefore do not seek to be in front: be lame on this side, and be the leader at the moment of return.
-
آخرون السابقون باش ای ظریف ** بر شجر سابق بود میوهی طریف
- O clever one, be thou (according to the Prophet's saying, “We are) the hindmost and the foremost”: the fresh fruit is prior to the tree.
-
گرچه میوه آخر آید در وجود ** اولست او زانک او مقصود بود
- Although the fruit comes last into being, it is the first, because it was the object.
-
چون ملایک گوی لا علم لنا ** تا بگیرد دست تو علمتنا 1130
- Say, like the angels, “We have no knowledge,” to the end that “Thou hast taught us” may take thy hand (come to thy aid).
-
گر درین مکتب ندانی تو هجا ** همچو احمد پری از نور حجی
- If in this school thou dost not know the alphabet, (yet) thou art filled, like Ahmad (Mohammed), with the light of Reason.
-
گر نباشی نامدار اندر بلاد ** گم نهای الله اعلم بالعباد
- If thou art not famous in the world, (yet) thou art not lost: God knoweth best concerning His servants.
-
اندر آن ویران که آن معروف نیست ** از برای حفظ گنجینهی زریست
- A treasure of gold is (hidden), for safety's sake, in a desolate spot that is not well-known.