بر در ار جویی نیابی آن شکاف ** سخت ناپیدا و زو چندین زفاف

If you look on the door for that chink, you will not find it: (it is) extremely unapparent, though (there are) so many processions through it.

شرح آن کور دوربین و آن کر تیزشنو و آن برهنه دراز دامن

Explaining (what is signified by) the far-sighted blind man, the deaf man who is sharp of hearing, and the naked man with the long skirts.

کر امل را دان که مرگ ما شنید ** مرگ خود نشنید و نقل خود ندید

Know that Hope is the deaf man who has (often) heard of our dying, (but) has not heard of his own death or regarded his own decease.

حرص نابیناست بیند مو بمو ** عیب خلقان و بگوید کو بکو

The blind man is Greed: he sees other people's faults, hair by hair, and tells them from street to street,

عیب خود یک ذره چشم کور او ** می‌نبیند گرچه هست او عیب‌جو 2630

(But) his blind eyes do not perceive one mote of his own faults, albeit he is a fault-finder.

عور می‌ترسد که دامانش برند ** دامن مرد برهنه چون درند

The naked man is afraid that his skirt will be cut off: how should they (any one) cut off the skirt of a naked man?

مرد دنیا مفلس است و ترسناک ** هیچ او را نیست از دزدانش باک

The worldly man is destitute and terrified: he possesses nothing, (yet) he has dread of thieves.

او برهنه آمد و عریان رود ** وز غم دزدش جگر خون می‌شود

Bare he came and naked he goes, and (all the while) his heart is bleeding with anxiety on account of the thief

وقت مرگش که بود صد نوحه بیش ** خنده آید جانش را زین ترس خویش

At the hour of death when a hundred lamentations are (being made) beside him, his spirit begins to laugh at its own fear.

آن زمان داند غنی کش نیست زر ** هم ذکی داند که او بد بی‌هنر 2635

At that moment the rich man knows that he has no gold; the keen-witted man, too, knows that he is devoid of talent.

چون کنار کودکی پر از سفال ** کو بر آن لرزان بود چون رب مال

(’Tis) like (as when) a child's lap (is) filled with potsherds, for he (the child) is trembling for them, like the owner of riches.