لیک آدم چارق و آن پوستین ** پیش می‌آورد که هستم ز طین

But Adam brought forward (and kept in view) the rustic shoon and sheepskin jacket, saying, “I am of clay.”

چون ایاز آن چارقش مورود بود ** لاجرم او عاقبت محمود بود

By him, as by Ayáz, those shoon were (often) visited: consequently he was lauded in the end.

هست مطلق کارساز نیستیست ** کارگاه هست‌کن جز نیست چیست 1960

The Absolute Being is a worker in non-existence: what but non-existence is the workshop (working material) of the Maker of existence?

بر نوشته هیچ بنویسد کسی ** یا نهاله کارد اندر مغرسی

Does one write anything on what is (already) written over, or plant a sapling in a place (already) planted?

کاغذی جوید که آن بنوشته نیست ** تخم کارد موضعی که کشته نیست

(No); he seeks a sheet of paper that has not been written on and sows the seed in a place that has not been sown.

تو برادر موضع ناکشته باش ** کاغذ اسپید نابنوشته باش

Be thou, O brother, a place unsown; be a white paper untouched by writing,

تا مشرف گردی از نون والقلم ** تا بکارد در تو تخم آن ذوالکرم

That thou mayst be ennobled by Nún wa ’l-Qalam, and that the Gracious One may sow seed within thee.

خود ازین پالوه نالیسیده گیر ** مطبخی که دیده‌ای نادیده گیر 1965

Assume, indeed, that thou hast never licked (tasted) this pálúda (honeycake); assume that thou hast never seen the kitchen which thou hast seen,

زانک ازین پالوده مستیها بود ** پوستین و چارق از یادت رود

Because from this pálúda intoxications arise, and the sheepskin jacket and the shoon depart from thy memory.

چون در آید نزع و مرگ آهی کنی ** ذکر دلق و چارق آنگاهی کنی

When the death-agony comes, thou wilt utter a (great) cry of lamentation: in that hour thou wilt remember thy ragged cloak and clumsy shoon;