حبذا دو چشم پایان بین راد ** که نگه دارند تن را از فساد
How excellent are two noble end-discerning eyes that preserve the body from corruption!
آن ز پایان‌دید احمد بود کو ** دید دوزخ را همین‌جا مو به مو
That (foresight) was (derived) from the vision of the end that was seen by Ahmad (Mohammed), who even here (in the present life) saw Hell, hair by hair,
دید عرش و کرسی و جنات را ** تا درید او پرده‌ی غفلات را
And saw the Throne (of God) and the Footstool and the Gardens (of Paradise), so that he rent the veil of (our) forgetfulnesses.
گر همی‌خواهی سلامت از ضرر ** چشم ز اول بند و پایان را نگر 1360
If you desire to be safe from harm, close your eye to the beginning and contemplate the end,
تا عدمها ار ببینی جمله هست ** هستها را بنگری محسوس پست
That you may regard all (apparent) nonentities as (really) existent and look upon (all) entities, (so far as they are) perceived by the senses, as of low degree.
این ببین باری که هر کش عقل هست ** روز و شب در جست و جوی نیستست
At least consider this, that every one who possesses reason is daily and nightly in quest of the (relatively) non-existent.
در گدایی طالب جودی که نیست ** بر دکانها طالب سودی که نیست
In begging, he seeks a munificence that is not in being; in the shops he seeks a profit that is not in being.
در مزارع طالب دخلی که نیست ** در مغارس طالب نخلی که نیست
In the cornfields he seeks an income (crop) that is not in being; in the plantations he seeks a date-palm that is not in being.
در مدارس طالب علمی که نیست ** در صوامع طالب حلمی که نیست 1365
In the colleges he seeks a knowledge that is not in being; in the Christian monasteries he seeks a morality that is not in being.
هستها را سوی پس افکنده‌اند ** نیستها را طالبند و بنده‌اند
They (the intelligent) have thrown the (actually) existent things behind them and are seekers of, and devoted to, the (relatively) non-existent things,