جسم ظاهر عاقبت خود رفتنیست ** تا ابد معنی بخواهد شاد زیست
The visible body is doomed to go at last, (but) that which is real (the pure spirit) shall live rejoicing for ever.
آن عتاب ار رفت هم بر پوست رفت ** دوست بی‌آزار سوی دوست رفت
If that punishment was inflicted, yet it fell only on the skin: the lover went unscathed to the Beloved.
گرچه او فتراک شاهنشه گرفت ** آخر از عین الکمال او ره گرفت 4875
Although he laid hold of the Emperor's saddle-strap, (yet) in the end he was (only) admitted (to union with his Beloved) by the eye whose glances kill.
و آن سوم کاهل‌ترین هر سه بود ** صورت و معنی به کلی او ربود
And the third (brother) was the laziest of the three: he won (the prize) completely—the form (appearance) as well as the reality.
وصیت کردن آن شخص کی بعد از من او برد مال مرا از سه فرزند من کی کاهل‌ترست
The injunctions given by a certain person that after he died his property should be inherited by whichever of his three sons was the laziest.
آن یکی شخص به وقت مرگ خویش ** گفت بود اندر وصیت پیش‌پیش
Long ago a certain person, in giving injunctions on his death-bed, had spoken (as follows)—
سه پسر بودش چو سه سرو روان ** وقف ایشان کرده او جان و روان
(For) he had three sons like three moving cypresses: to them he had devoted his (vital) soul and his (rational) spirit.
گفت هرچه در کفم کاله و زرست ** او برد زین هر سه کو کاهل‌ترست
He said, “Whichever of these three is the laziest, let him take all the goods and gold in my possession.”
گفت با قاضی و پس اندرز کرد ** بعد از آن جام شراب مرگ خورد 4880
He told the cadi and enjoined him strictly: after that, he drained the wine-cup of death.
گفته فرزندان به قاضی کای کریم ** نگذریم از حکم او ما سه یتیم
The sons said to the cadi, “O noble sir, we three orphans will not depart from his decision.