بند بگسل، باش آزاد ای پسر ** چند باشی بند سیم و بند زر

O son, burst thy chains and be free! How long wilt thou be a bondsman to silver and gold?

گر بریزی بحر را در کوزه‌‌ای ** چند گنجد قسمت یک روزه‌‌ای‌‌ 20

If thou pour the sea into a pitcher, how much will it hold? One day's store.

کوزه‌‌ی چشم حریصان پر نشد ** تا صدف قانع نشد پر در نشد

The pitcher, the eye of the covetous, never becomes full: the oyster-shell is not filled with pearls until it is contented.

هر که را جامه ز عشقی چاک شد ** او ز حرص و عیب کلی پاک شد

He (alone) whose garment is rent by a (mighty) love is purged entirely of covetousness and defect.

شاد باش ای عشق خوش سودای ما ** ای طبیب جمله علتهای ما

Hail, our sweet-thoughted Love —thou that art the physician of all our ills,

ای دوای نخوت و ناموس ما ** ای تو افلاطون و جالینوس ما

The remedy of our pride and vainglory, our Plato and our Galen!

جسم خاک از عشق بر افلاک شد ** کوه در رقص آمد و چالاک شد 25

Through Love the earthly body soared to the skies: the mountain began to dance and became nimble.

عشق جان طور آمد عاشقا ** طور مست و خر موسی صاعقا

Love inspired Mount Sinai, O lover, (so that) Sinai (was made) drunken and Moses fell in a swoon.

با لب دمساز خود گر جفتمی ** همچو نی من گفتنیها گفتمی‌‌

Were I joined to the lip of one in accord with me, I too, like the reed, would tell all that may be told;

هر که او از هم زبانی شد جدا ** بی‌‌زبان شد گر چه دارد صد نوا

(But) whoever is parted from one who speaks his language becomes dumb, though he have a hundred songs.

چون که گل رفت و گلستان در گذشت ** نشنوی ز ان پس ز بلبل سر گذشت‌‌

When the rose is gone and the garden faded, thou wilt hear no more the nightingale's story.

جمله معشوق است و عاشق پرده‌‌ای ** زنده معشوق است و عاشق مرده‌‌ای‌‌ 30

The Beloved is all and the lover (but) a veil; the Beloved is living and the lover a dead thing.

چون نباشد عشق را پروای او ** او چو مرغی ماند بی‌‌پر، وای او

When Love hath no care for him, he is left as a bird without wings. Alas for him then!

من چگونه هوش دارم پیش و پس ** چون نباشد نور یارم پیش و پس‌‌

How should I have consciousness (of aught) before or behind when the light of my Beloved is not before me and behind?

عشق خواهد کاین سخن بیرون بود ** آینه غماز نبود چون بود

Love wills that this Word should be shown forth: if the mirror does not reflect, how is that?

آینه‌‌ت دانی چرا غماز نیست ** ز انکه زنگار از رخش ممتاز نیست‌‌

Dost thou know why the mirror (of thy soul) reflects nothing? Because the rust is not cleared from its face.

عاشق شدن پادشاه بر کنیزک رنجور و تدبیر کردن در صحت او

How the king fell in love with the sick handmaiden and made plans to restore her health.

بشنوید ای دوستان این داستان ** خود حقیقت نقد حال ماست آن‌‌ 35

O my friends, hearken to this tale: in truth it is the very marrow of our inward state.

بود شاهی در زمانی پیش از این ** ملک دنیا بودش و هم ملک دین‌‌

In olden time there was a king to whom belonged the power temporal and also the power spiritual.

اتفاقا شاه روزی شد سوار ** با خواص خویش از بهر شکار

It chanced that one day he rode with his courtiers to the chase.

یک کنیزک دید شه بر شاه راه ** شد غلام آن کنیزک جان شاه‌‌

On the king's highway the king espied a handmaiden: the king was enthralled by her.

مرغ جانش در قفس چون می‌‌طپید ** داد مال و آن کنیزک را خرید

Forasmuch as the bird, his soul, was fluttering in its cage, he gave money and bought the handmaiden.

چون خرید او را و برخوردار شد ** آن کنیزک از قضا بیمار شد 40

After he had bought her and won to his desire, by Divine destiny she sickened.

آن یکی خر داشت، پالانش نبود ** یافت پالان گرگ خر را در ربود

A certain man had an ass but no pack-saddle: (as soon as) he got a saddle, the wolf carried away his ass.

کوزه بودش آب می‌‌نامد به دست ** آب را چون یافت خود کوزه شکست‌‌

He had a pitcher, but no water could be obtained: when he found water, the pitcher broke.

شه طبیبان جمع کرد از چپ و راست ** گفت جان هر دو در دست شماست‌‌

The king gathered the physicians together from left and right and said to them, “The life of us both is in your hands.