تا بر آراید هنر را تار و پود ** چشم در خورشید نتواند گشود
So long as he (such an one) decks out the warp and woof of (his own) cleverness, he cannot open his eyes to the Sun.
هم‌چو نخلی برنیارد شاخها ** کرده موشانه زمین سوراخها
He does not lift up branches (to the sky) like a date-palm: he has bored holes in the earth after the fashion of mice.
چار وصفست این بشر را دل‌فشار ** چارمیخ عقل گشته این چهار 30
This humankind have four heart-oppressing qualities: these four have become the gibbet of Reason.
تفسیر خذ اربعة من الطیر فصرهن الیک
Commenting on “Take four birds and turn them towards thee.”
تو خلیل وقتی ای خورشیدهش ** این چهار اطیار ره‌زن را بکش
O thou whose intelligence is (resplendent) as the Sun, thou art the Khalíl (Abraham) of the time: kill these four birds that infest the Way,
زانک هر مرغی ازینها زاغ‌وش ** هست عقل عاقلان را دیده‌کش
Because each of them, crow-like, is plucking the eye from the intellect of the intelligent.
چار وصف تن چو مرغان خلیل ** بسمل ایشان دهد جان را سبیل
The four bodily qualities resemble the birds of Khalíl: their slaughter makes way for the soul (to ascend).
ای خلیل اندر خلاص نیک و بد ** سر ببرشان تا رهد پاها ز سد
O Khalíl, in (accomplishing) the deliverance of good and bad (alike), cut off their heads that the feet (of the people) may escape from the barrier (which confines them).
کل توی و جملگان اجزای تو ** بر گشا که هست پاشان پای تو 35
Thou art all, and they all are parts of thee: open (the prison), for their feet are thy feet.
از تو عالم روح زاری می‌شود ** پشت صد لشکر سواری می‌شود
By thee the (whole) world is made a place abounding in spirit: a single cavalier becomes the support of a hundred armies.
زانک این تن شد مقام چار خو ** نامشان شد چار مرغ فتنه‌جو
Inasmuch as this body is the abode (nest) of (these) four dispositions, they are named the four mischief-seeking birds.
خلق را گر زندگی خواهی ابد ** سر ببر زین چار مرغ شوم بد
If thou wish the people to have everlasting life, cut off the heads of these four foul and evil birds,
بازشان زنده کن از نوعی دگر ** که نباشد بعد از آن زیشان ضرر
(And then) revive them again in another sort, so that afterwards no harm will be done by them.