آن در اول که خوردی استخوان ** سخت گیر و حق گزار آن را ممان
Hold fast to the first door where thou didst eat bones, and fulfil thy obligation: do not leave that (debt unpaid).”
می‌گزندش تا ز ادب آنجا رود ** وز مقام اولین مفلح شود
They keep biting him (the strange dog), that from a sense of duty he may go thither and be prospered by his first abode.
می‌گزندش کای سگ طاغی برو ** با ولی نعمتت یاغی مشو
They bite him, saying, “O naughty dog, begone! Do not become an enemy to thy benefactor.
بر همان در همچو حلقه بسته باش ** پاسبان و چابک و برجسته باش
Be attached, like the door-ring, to that same door; keep watch and be nimble and ready to spring.
صورت نقض وفای ما مباش ** بی‌وفایی را مکن بیهوده فاش320
Do not be the type of our breaking faith, do not recklessly make (our) disloyalty notorious.
مر سگان را چون وفا آمد شعار ** رو سگان را ننگ و بدنامی میار
Since fidelity is the badge by which the dogs are known, begone and do not bring opprobrium and ill-fame upon the dogs.”
بی‌وفایی چون سگان را عار بود ** بی‌وفایی چون روا داری نمود
Inasmuch as unfaithfulness has (always) been a disgrace (even) to dogs, how shouldst thou deem it right to show unfaithfulness?
حق تعالی فخر آورد از وفا ** گفت من اوفی بعهد غیرنا
The high God hath boasted of faithfulness: He hath said, “Who but I am most faithful in keeping a promise?”
بی‌وفایی دان وفا با رد حق ** بر حقوق حق ندارد کس سبق
Know that faithfulness (to others when it is accompanied) with rejection of God is unfaithfulness: no one hath precedence over (hath a prior claim to) God's rights.
حق مادر بعد از آن شد کان کریم ** کرد او را از جنین تو غریم325
Thy mother's right (only) arose after that Bounteous One had made her indebted (to Him) for thy embryo.
صورتی کردت درون جسم او ** داد در حملش ورا آرام و خو
He bestowed on thee a form within her body, He gave ease to her during pregnancy and accustomed her (to the burden).
همچو جزو متصل دید او ترا ** متصل را کرد تدبیرش جدا
She deemed thee as a part joined (to herself); His providence separated (from her) that which was joined.
حق هزاران صنعت و فن ساختست ** تا که مادر بر تو مهر انداختست
God hath prepared thousands of artifices and contrivances, so that thy mother hath thrown (her) love upon thee.
پس حق حق سابق از مادر بود ** هر که آن حق را نداند خر بود
Therefore God's right is prior to (that of) the mother: whoever does not recognise that right is an ass.
آنک مادر آفرید و ضرع و شیر ** با پدر کردش قرین آن خود مگیر330
(If thou deny it), do not even admit that He created mother, teat, and milk, and united her with the father!
ای خداوند ای قدیم احسان تو ** آنک دانم وانک نه هم آن تو
O Lord, O Thou whose beneficence is eternal, Thine is both that which I know and that which I know not.
تو بفرمودی که حق را یاد کن ** زانک حق من نمی‌گردد کهن
Thou didst command, saying, “Remember God, because My right shall never grow old.
یاد کن لطفی که کردم آن صبوح ** با شما از حفظ در کشتی نوح
Remember the kindness which I did unto you that morn by protecting (you) in the ship (ark) of Noah.
پیله بابایانتان را آن زمان ** دادم از طوفان و از موجش امان
At that time I gave to the stock of your fathers security from the Flood and from its waves.
آب آتش خو زمین بگرفته بود ** موج او مر اوج که را می‌ربود335
Water, like fire in (its deadly) nature, had covered the earth: its waves were sweeping away the highest peaks of the mountains.
حفظ کردم من نکردم ردتان ** در وجود جد جد جدتان
I protected you, I did not spurn you, in the bodies of the ancestors of the ancestors of your ancestors.
چون شدی سر پشت پایت چون زنم ** کارگاه خویش ضایع چون کنم
Now that you have come to the head, how should I smite the sole of your foot? How should I let My workshop go to waste?
چون فدای بی‌وفایان می‌شوی ** از گمان بد بدان سو می‌روی
How are you becoming devoted to the unfaithful and going in that direction from ill thoughts (of Me)?
من ز سهو و بی‌وفاییها بری ** سوی من آیی گمان بد بری
I am clear of negligence and infidelities, (yet) you come to Me and think evil.
این گمان بد بر آنجا بر که تو ** می‌شوی در پیش همچون خود دوتو340
Think this evil thought against the place where you cringe before one like yourself.