Their cry is coming (to you) from those delightful bowers— “O thou who hast forgotten us, hark, come with all speed!”
منتظر در غیب جان مرد و زن ** مول مولت چیست زوتر گام زن 3900
The soul (spiritual result) of (every) man and woman is waiting (for them) in the Unseen: why are you delaying? Step forward at once (on the way).
راه گم کرد او از آن صبح دروغ ** چون مگس افتاد اندر دیگ دوغ
He (the captain) lost his way and, (beguiled) by that false dawn, fell like a gnat into the pot of buttermilk.
پشیمان شدن آن سرلشکر از آن خیانت کی کرد و سوگند دادن او آن کنیزک را کی به خلیفه باز نگوید از آنچ رفت
How that military chief repented of the sin which he had committed and adjured the girl not to tell the Caliph anything of what had happened.
چند روزی هم بر آن بد بعد از آن ** شد پشیمان او از آن جرم گران
He was absorbed in that (love-affair) for a while, (but) afterwards he repented of that grievous crime,
داد سوگندش کای خورشیدرو ** با خلیفه زینچ شد رمزی مگو
And adjured her, saying, “O thou whose face is like the sun, do not give the Caliph any hint of what has passed.”
چون ندید او را خلیفه مست گشت ** پس ز بام افتاد او را نیز طشت
When the Caliph saw her he became distraught (with love), and then too his secret was exposed to all.
دید صد چندان که وصفش کرده بود ** کی بود خود دیده مانند شنود 3905
He saw (her to be) a hundred times as beautiful as he (the informer) had described her: how in sooth should seeing be like hearing?
وصف تصویرست بهر چشم هوش ** صورت آن چشم دان نه زان گوش
Description is a picture (drawn) for the eye of intelligence: know that the (sensible) form belongs to the eye, not to the ear.
کرد مردی از سخن‌دانی سال ** حق و باطل چیست ای نیکو مقال
A certain man asked an eloquent person, “What are truth and falsehood, O man of goodly discourse?”
گوش را بگرفت و گفت این باطلست ** چشم حقست و یقینش حاصلست
He took hold of his ear and said, “This is false: the eye is true and possesses certainty.”
آن به نسبت باطل آمد پیش این ** نسبتست اغلب سخنها ای امین
The former is relatively false as compared with the latter: most sayings are relative, O trusty one.
ز آفتاب ار کرد خفاش احتجاب ** نیست محجوب از خیال آفتاب 3910
If the bat screens itself from the sun, (yet) it is not screened from the fancy (idea) of the sun.
خوف او را خود خیالش می‌دهد ** آن خیالش سوی ظلمت می‌کشد
Even the fancy (idea) of it (the sun) puts fear into it (the bat): that fancy leads it towards the darkness.
آن خیال نور می‌ترساندش ** بر شب ظلمات می‌چفساندش
That fancy (idea) of the light terrifies it and causes it to become attached to the night of gloom.
از خیال دشمن و تصویر اوست ** که تو بر چفسیده‌ای بر یار و دوست
’Tis from the fancy (idea) and the picture (thou hast formed) of thy enemy that thou hast become attached to thy comrade and friend.
موسیا کشفت لمع بر که فراشت ** آن مخیل تاب تحقیقت نداشت
O Moses, the revelation given to thee illumined the mountain, (but) the fancy conceiving (mountain) could not endure thy real experience (of the revelation).
هین مشو غره بدانک قابلی ** مر خیالش را و زین ره واصلی 3915
Hark, be not deluded by (the belief) that thou art able to conceive the fancy (idea) thereof and by this means canst attain (to the reality).
از خیال حرب نهراسید کس ** لا شجاعه قبل حرب این دان و بس
No one was ever terrified by the (mere) fancy (idea) of war: there is no bravery before (actual) war. Know this, and ’tis enough.
بر خیال حرب خیز اندر فکر ** می‌کند چون رستمان صد کر و فر
(Possessed) with the fancy (idea) of war, the poltroon makes, in his thoughts, a hundred heroic attacks (on the enemy).
نقش رستم که آن به حمامی بود ** قرن حمله فکر هر خامی بود
The antagonist (conceived) in the mind of every raw (weakling) is the picture of Rustam that may be (found) in a bath-house.