خواستی مسجد بود آن جای خیر ** دیگری آمد مر آن را ساخت دیر

And desired that that goodly place should be a mosque— and (then) some one else had come and made it a Christian monastery;

یا تو بافیدی یکی کرباس تا ** خوش بسازی بهر پوشیدن قبا

Or (as if) thou hadst woven a piece of linen cloth, in order deftly to make it a coat for some one to wear,

تو قبا می‌خواستی خصم از نبرد ** رغم تو کرباس را شلوار کرد

And (when) thou wert desiring (it to be) a coat, a rival, from (motives of) hostility, made the linen stuff into a pair of trousers in spite of thee.

چاره کرباس چه بود جان من ** جز زبون رای آن غالب شدن

What resource has the linen, my dear friend, but to submit to the purpose of the one who is predominant?

او زبون شد جرم این کرباس چیست ** آنک او مغلوب غالب نیست کیست 2925

(Since) he (the owner of the cloth) is reduced to submission, what is the crime of this linen? Who is he that is not dominated by the predominant?

چون کسی بی‌خواست او بر وی براند ** خاربن در ملک و خانه‌ی او نشاند

When some one has forced his way in against his (the householder's) will and planted a thornbush in his property and house,

صاحب خانه بدین خواری بود ** که چنین بر وی خلاقت می‌رود

The master of the house is humiliated because such a shabbiness (abasement) is inflicted on him.

هم خلق گردم من ار تازه و نوم ** چونک یار این چنین خواری شوم

I too, though I am fresh and new, would become shabby (abased) through being associated with such a contemptible person.

چونک خواه نفس آمد مستعان ** تسخر آمد ایش شاء الله کان

Since the will of the carnal soul is besought for help, ’tis mockery (to say) that whatever God wills shall come to pass.

من اگر ننگ مغان یا کافرم ** آن نیم که بر خدا این ظن برم 2930

(Even) if I am a disgrace to the Magians or am an infidel, I am not such (a miscreant) as to think this of God,