The perfumes of our (good) words ascend even unto Him, ascending from us whither God knoweth.
ترتقی أنفاسنا بالمنتقی ** متحفا منا إلی دار البقا
Our breaths soar up with the choice (words), as a gift from us, to the abode of everlastingness;
ثم تاتینا مکافات المقال ** ضعف ذاک رحمة من ذی الجلال
Then comes to us the recompense of our speech, a double (recompense) thereof, as a mercy from (God) the Glorious;
ثم یلجینا الی امثالها ** کی ینال العبد مما نالها885
Then He causes us to repair to (makes us utter) good words like those (already uttered), that His servant may obtain (something more) of what he has obtained.
هکذا تعرج و تنزل دایما ** ذا فلا زلت علیه قائما
Thus do they (our good words) ascend while it (the Divine mercy) descends continually: mayst thou never cease to keep up that (ascent and descent)!
پارسی گوییم یعنی این کشش ** ز آن طرف آید که آمد آن چشش
Let us speak Persian: the meaning is that this attraction (by which God draws the soul towards Himself) comes from the same quarter whence came that savour (spiritual delight experienced in and after prayer).
چشم هر قومی به سویی مانده است ** کان طرف یک روز ذوقی رانده است
The eyes of every set of people remain (turned) in the direction where one day they satisfied a (longing for) delight.
ذوق جنس از جنس خود باشد یقین ** ذوق جزو از کل خود باشد ببین
The delight of (every) kind is certainly in its own kind (congener): the delight of the part, observe, is in its whole;
یا مگر آن قابل جنسی بود ** چون بدو پیوست جنس او شود890
Or else, that (part) is surely capable of (attachment to) a (different) kind and, when it has attached itself thereto, becomes homogeneous with it,
همچو آب و نان که جنس ما نبود ** گشت جنس ما و اندر ما فزود
As (for instance) water and bread, which were not our congeners, became homogeneous with us and increased within us (added to our bulk and strength).
نقش جنسیت ندارد آب و نان ** ز اعتبار آخر آن را جنس دان
Water and bread have not the appearance of being our congeners, (but) from consideration of the end (final result) deem them to be homogeneous (with us).
ور ز غیر جنس باشد ذوق ما ** آن مگر مانند باشد جنس را
And if our delight is (derived) from something not homogeneous, that (thing) will surely resemble the congener.
آن که مانند است باشد عاریت ** عاریت باقی نماند عاقبت
That which (only) bears a resemblance is a loan: a loan is impermanent in the end.
مرغ را گر ذوق آید از صفیر ** چون که جنس خود نیابد شد نفیر895
Although the bird is delighted by (the fowler's) whistle, it takes fright when it (sees him and) does not find its own congener.
تشنه را گر ذوق آید از سراب ** چون رسد در وی گریزد جوید آب
Although the thirsty man is delighted by the mirage, he runs away when he comes up to it, and seeks for water.
مفلسان هم خوش شوند از زر قلب ** لیک آن رسوا شود در دار ضرب
Moreover, the insolent are pleased with base gold, yet that (gold) is put to shame in the mint.
تا زر اندودیت از ره نفگند ** تا خیال کژ ترا چه نفگند
(Take heed) lest gildedness (imposture) cast you out of the (right) way, lest false imagination cast you into the well.
از کلیله باز جو آن قصه را ** و اندر آن قصه طلب کن حصه را
Seek the story (illustrating this) from (the book of) Kalíla (and Dimna), and search out the moral (contained) in the story.
بیان توکل و ترک جهد گفتن نخجیران به شیر
Setting forth how the beasts of chase told the lion to trust in God and cease from exerting himself.
طایفه‌‌ی نخجیر در وادی خوش ** بودشان از شیر دایم کش مکش900
A number of beasts of chase in a pleasant valley were continually harassed by a lion.
بس که آن شیر از کمین درمی‌‌ربود ** آن چرا بر جمله ناخوش گشته بود
Inasmuch as the lion was (springing) from ambush and carrying them away, that pasturage had become unpleasant to them all.
حیله کردند آمدند ایشان بشیر ** کز وظیفه ما ترا داریم سیر
They made a plot: they came to the lion, saying, “We will keep thee full-fed by means of a (fixed) allowance.