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هیچ خطاطی نویسد خط به فن ** بهر عین خط نه بهر خواندن
- Does any calligrapher write artistically for the sake of the writing itself and not for the sake of the reading?
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نقش ظاهر بهر نقش غایبست ** وان برای غایب دیگر ببست
- The external form is for the sake of the unseen form; and that took shape for the sake of another unseen (form).
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تا سوم چارم دهم بر می‌شمر ** این فواید را به مقدار نظر
- Count up these corollaries to the third, fourth, or tenth in proportion to (your) insight.
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هم‌چو بازیهای شطرنج ای پسر ** فایده‌ی هر لعب در تالی نگر
- As (for example) the moves in chess, O son: behold the result of each move in the next one.
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این نهادند بهر آن لعب نهان ** وان برای آن و آن بهر فلان 2890
- They made this (move) for the sake of that concealed move, and that for the next, and that (again) for such and such.
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هم‌چنین دیده جهات اندر جهات ** در پی هم تا رسی در برد و مات
- Even so (proceed), having perceived reasons within reasons, one after the other, in order that you may arrive at victory and checkmate.
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اول از بهر دوم باشد چنان ** که شدن بر پایه‌های نردبان
- The first is for the sake of the second, like mounting on the steps of a ladder;
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و آن دوم بهر سوم می‌دان تمام ** تا رسی تو پایه پایه تا به بام
- And deem the second to be for the sake of the third, (and so on) to the end, in order that you may arrive, step by step, at the roof.
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شهوت خوردن ز بهر آن منی ** آن منی از بهر نسل و روشنی
- The desire to eat is for the sake of the semen: that semen is for the sake of procreation and the light (which glows in the eyes of parents).
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کندبینش می‌نبیند غیر این ** عقل او بی‌سیر چون نبت زمین 2895
- The man of dull sight sees naught but this: his intelligence is without motion, like the plants of the earth.