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ز آن که با جامه درون سو راه نیست ** تن ز جان جامه ز تن آگاه نیست
- Because, with your clothes, there is no way (of getting) inside: the body is ignorant of the soul, the clothes (are ignorant) of the body.
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پیش آمدن نقیبان و دربانان خلیفه از بهر اکرام اعرابی و پذیرفتن هدیهی او را
- How the Caliph's officers and chamberlains came forward to pay their respects to the Bedouin and to receive his gift.
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آن عرابی از بیابان بعید ** بر در دار الخلافه چون رسید
- When the Bedouin arrived from the remote desert to the gate of the Caliph's palace,
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پس نقیبان پیش او باز آمدند ** بس گلاب لطف بر جیبش زدند
- The court officers went to meet him: they sprinkled much rose-water of graciousness on his bosom.
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حاجت او فهمشان شد بیمقال ** کار ایشان بد عطا پیش از سؤال 2775
- Without speech (on his part) they perceived what he wanted: it was their practice to give before being asked.
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پس بدو گفتند یا وجه العرب ** از کجایی چونی از راه و تعب
- Then they said to him, “O chief of the Arabs, whence dost thou come? How art thou after the journey and fatigue?”
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گفت وجهم گر مرا وجهی دهید ** بیوجوهم چون پس پشتم نهید
- He said, “I am a chief, if ye give me any countenance (favour); I am without means (of winning respect) when ye put me behind your backs.
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ای که در روتان نشان مهتری ** فرتان خوشتر ز زر جعفری
- O ye in whose faces are the marks of eminence, O ye whose splendour is more pleasing than the gold of Ja‘far,
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ای که یک دیدارتان دیدارها ** ای نثار دینتان دینارها
- O ye, one sight of whom is (worth many) sights, O ye on whose religion pieces of gold are scattered (as largesse),
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ای همه ینظر بنور الله شده ** از بر حق بهر بخشش آمده 2780
- O ye, all of whom have become seeing by the light of God, who have come from the King for the sake of munificence,
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تا زنید آن کیمیاهای نظر ** بر سر مسهای اشخاص بشر
- That ye may cast the elixir of your looks upon the copper of human individuals,
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من غریبم از بیابان آمدم ** بر امید لطف سلطان آمدم
- I am a stranger: I have come from the desert: I have come in hope of (gaining) the grace of the Sultan.
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بوی لطف او بیابانها گرفت ** ذرههای ریگ هم جانها گرفت
- The scent of his grace covered (took entire possession of) the deserts: even the grains of sand were ensouled (thereby).
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تا بدین جا بهر دینار آمدم ** چون رسیدم مست دیدار آمدم
- I came all the way to this place for the sake of dinars: as soon as I arrived, I became drunken with sight (contemplation).”
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بهر نان شخصی سوی نانوا دوید ** داد جان چون حسن نانوا را بدید 2785
- A person ran to the baker for bread: on seeing the beauty of the baker, he gave up the ghost.
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بهر فرجه شد یکی تا گلستان ** فرجهی او شد جمال باغبان
- A certain man went to the rose-garden to take his pleasure, and found it in the beauty of the gardener,
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همچو اعرابی که آب از چه کشید ** آب حیوان از رخ یوسف چشید
- Like the desert Arab who drew water from the well and tasted the Water of Life from the (lovely) face of Joseph.
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رفت موسی کاتش آرد او به دست ** آتشی دید او که از آتش برست
- Moses went to fetch fire: he beheld such a Fire (the Burning Bush) that he escaped from (searching after) fire.
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جست عیسی تا رهد از دشمنان ** بردش آن جستن به چارم آسمان
- Jesus sprang up, to escape from his enemies: that spring carried him to the Fourth Heaven.
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دام آدم خوشهی گندم شده ** تا وجودش خوشهی مردم شده 2790
- The ear of wheat became a trap for Adam, so that his existence became the wheat-ear (seed and origin) of mankind.
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باز آید سوی دام از بهر خور ** ساعد شه یابد و اقبال و فر
- The falcon comes to the snare for food: it finds the fore-arm (wrist) of the King and fortune and glory.
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طفل شد مکتب پی کسب هنر ** بر امید مرغ با لطف پدر
- The child went to school to acquire knowledge, in hope of (getting) its father's pretty bird (as a prize);
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پس ز مکتب آن یکی صدری شده ** ماهگانه داده و بدری شده
- Then, by (going to) school, that child rose to the top, paid monthly fees (to his teacher), and became perfect (in knowledge).
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آمده عباس حرب از بهر کین ** بهر قمع احمد و استیز دین
- ‘Abbás had come to war for vengeance’ sake, for the purpose of subduing Ahmad (Mohammed) and opposing the (true) religion:
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گشته دین را تا قیامت پشت و رو ** در خلافت او و فرزندان او 2795
- He and his descendants in the Caliphate became a back and front (complete support) to the (true) religion until the Resurrection.
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من بر این در طالب چیز آمدم ** صدر گشتم چون به دهلیز آمدم
- “I came to this court in quest of wealth: as soon as I entered the portico I became (a spiritual) chief.