هر نبیی زو برآورده برات ** استعینوا منه صبرا او صلات
Every prophet has received (on behalf of his people) from Him the guarantee (implied in the words) seek help of Him with patience or prayer.
هین ازو خواهید نه از غیر او ** آب در یم جو مجو در خشک جو
Come, ask of Him, not of any one except Him: seek water in the sea, do not seek it in the dry river-bed.
ور بخواهی از دگر هم او دهد ** بر کف میلش سخا هم او نهد
And if you ask of another, ’tis He that gives; ’tis He that lays generosity on the open hand of his (that other's) inclination.
آنک معرض را ز زر قارون کند ** رو بدو آری به طاعت چون کند
He who with gold makes one that turns away (from Him in disobedience) a Qárún (Korah), how (much more) will He do (if) you turn your face towards Him in obedience!
بار دیگر شاعر از سودای داد ** روی سوی آن شه محسن نهاد1185
The poet, from passionate desire for bounty, set his face a second time towards that beneficent king.
هدیه‌ی شاعر چه باشد شعر نو ** پیش محسن آرد و بنهد گرو
What is the poet's offering? A new poem: he brings it to the beneficent (patron) and deposits it as his stake.
محسنان با صد عطا و جود و بر ** زر نهاده شاعران را منتظر
The beneficent (on their part) have deposited gold and are waiting for the poets with a hundred gifts and liberalities and kindnesses.
پیششان شعری به از صدتنگ شعر ** خاصه شاعر کو گهر آرد ز قعر
In their eyes a poem (shi‘r) is better than a hundred bales of silk robes (sha‘r), especially (when it is composed by) a poet who fetches pearls from the depths.
آدمی اول حریص نان بود ** زانک قوت و نان ستون جان بود
At first a man is greedy for bread, because food and bread are the pillar (support) of life.
سوی کسب و سوی غصب و صد حیل ** جان نهاده بر کف از حرص و امل1190
On account of greed and expectation he runs every risk in the way of earning his livelihood and seizing property by violence and (employing) a hundred devices.