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عقل باشد مرد را بال و پری ** چون ندارد عقل عقل رهبری 4075
- Intelligence is wings and feathers to a man: when he lacks intelligence, (he must rely on) the intelligence of a guide.
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یا مظفر یا مظفرجوی باش ** یا نظرور یا نظرورجوی باش
- Either be victorious or in search of a victor: either have insight or be in search of one endowed with insight.
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بی ز مفتاح خرد این قرع باب ** از هوا باشد نه از روی صواب
- Without (possession of) the key, namely, intelligence, this knocking at the door is prompted by self-will, not by right motives.
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عالمی در دام میبین از هوا ** وز جراحتهای همرنگ دوا
- See a whole world ensnared by self-will and by wounds (harmful things) that look like remedies (beneficial things).
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مار استادست بر سینه چو مرگ ** در دهانش بهر صید اشگرف برگ
- The snake, (terrible) as death, stands (raises itself) on its breast, with a big leaf in its mouth in order to catch its prey.
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در حشایش چون حشیشی او بپاست ** مرغ پندارد که او شاخ گیاست 4080
- It stands erect, like a herb, amidst the herbage, (so that) the bird thinks it is the stalk of a plant.
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چون نشیند بهر خور بر روی برگ ** در فتد اندر دهان مار و مرگ
- When it (the bird) settles on the leaf for the purpose of eating, it falls into the mouth of the snake and (into the jaws of) death.
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کرده تمساحی دهان خویش باز ** گرد دندانهاش کرمان دراز
- A crocodile opens its mouth: its teeth are surrounded by long worms.
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از بقیهی خور که در دندانش ماند ** کرمها رویید و بر دندان نشاند
- The worms were produced by the residue of food left in its teeth; and it gave them lodging there.
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مرغکان بینند کرم و قوت را ** مرج پندارند آن تابوت را
- The little birds see the worms and the food and imagine that coffin to be a meadow.