سخت خوش مستی ولی ای بوالحسن ** پاره‌ای راهست تا بینا شدن

Thou art mightily well drunken, but, O Bu ’l-Hasan, there is a bit of way (to be traversed ere thou attain) to seeing.

این نصیب کور باشد ز آفتاب ** صد چنین والله اعلم بالصواب 505

This is the blind man's portion from the Sun, (and) a hundred such (portions); and God best knoweth what is right.

وآنک او آن نور را بینا بود ** شرح او کی کار بوسینا بود

And he that hath vision of that Light—how should the explanation of him (his state) be a task (within the capacity) of Bú Síná?

ور شود صد تو که باشد این زبان ** که بجنباند به کف پرده‌ی عیان

(Even) if it be hundredfold, who (what) is this tongue that it should move with its hand the veil of (mystical) clairvoyance?

وای بر وی گر بساید پرده را ** تیغ اللهی کند دستش جدا

Woe to it if it touch the veil! The Divine sword severs its hand.

دست چه بود خود سرش را بر کند ** آن سری کز جهل سرها می‌کند

What of the hand? It (the sword) rends off even its (the tongue's) head—the head that from ignorance puts forth many a head (of pride and self-conceit).

این به تقدیر سخن گفتم ترا ** ورنه خود دستش کجا و آن کجا 510

I have said this to you, speaking hypothetically; otherwise, indeed, how far is its hand from being able to do that!

خاله را خایه بدی خالو شدی ** این به تقدیر آمدست ار او بدی

Materterae si testiculi essent, ea avunculus esset: this is hypothetical—“if there were.” [(If) in regard to a maternal aunt there were testicles, she would would be a maternal uncle: this is hypothetical—“if there were.”]

از زبان تا چشم کو پاک از شکست ** صد هزاران ساله گویم اندکست

(If) I say that between the tongue and the eye that is free from doubt there is a hundred thousand years' (journey), ’tis little (in comparison with the reality).

هین مشو نومید نور از آسمان ** حق چو خواهد می‌رسد در یک زمان

Now come, do not despair! When God wills, light arrives from heaven in a single moment.