کمترین لعبت او جان تست ** این چگونه و چون جان کی شد درست
Your soul is the least of its playthings; (yet) how can the quality and description of the soul be ascertained?
پس چنان بحری که در هر قطر آن ** از بدن ناشی‌تر آمد عقل و جان 1625
Such a Sea, then, with every drop whereof the intellect and the spirit are more unfamiliar than the body—
کی بگنجد در مضیق چند و چون ** عقل کل آنجاست از لا یعلمون
How should it be contained in the narrow room of quantity and quality? There (even) Universal Reason is one of the ignorant.
عقل گوید مر جسد را که ای جماد ** بوی بردی هیچ از آن بحر معاد
Reason says to the body, ‘O lifeless thing, hast thou ever had a scent of the Sea whither all return?’
جسم گوید من یقین سایه‌ی توم ** یاری از سایه که جوید جان عم
The body replies, ‘Assuredly I am thy shadow: who would seek help from a shadow, O soul of thy uncle?’
عقل گوید کین نه آن حیرت سراست ** که سزا گستاخ‌تر از ناسزاست
Reason says, ‘This is the house of bewilderment, not a house where the worthy is bolder than the unworthy.’
اندرینجا آفتاب انوری ** خدمت ذره کند چون چاکری 1630
Here the resplendent sun pays homage to the mote, like a menial.
شیر این سو پیش آهو سر نهد ** باز اینجا نزد تیهو پر نهد
In this quarter the lion lays his head (in submission) before the deer; here the falcon lays (droops) his wings before the partridge.
این ترا باور نیاید مصطفی ** چون ز مسکینان همی‌جوید دعا
(If) you cannot believe this, (then) how is it that Mustafá (Mohammed) seeks a blessing from the lowly poor?
گر بگویی از پی تعلیم بود ** عین تجهیل از چه رو تفهیم بود
If you reply that it was for the purpose of teaching (his followers) in what respect was his leaving them in absolute ignorance (of the reason for his action) a means of causing them to understand?