گل نماند خارها ماند سیاه ** زرد و بی‌مغز آمده چون تل کاه
The roses remain not; (only) the black thorns remain: it becomes pale and pithless like a heap of straw.
تا چه زلت کرد آن باغ ای خدا ** که ازو این حله‌ها گردد جدا
O God, I wonder what fault did that orchard commit, that these (beautiful) robes should be stripped from it.
خویشتن را دید و دید خویشتن ** زهر قتالست هین ای ممتحن 980
“It paid regard to itself, and self-regard is a deadly poison. Beware, O thou who art put to the trial!”
شاهدی کز عشق او عالم گریست ** عالمش می‌راند از خود جرم چیست
The minion for love of whom the world wept—the world (now) is repulsing him from itself: what is (his) crime?
جرم آنک زیور عاریه بست ** کرد دعوی کین حلل ملک منست
“The crime is that he put on a borrowed adornment and pretended that these robes were his own property.
واستانیم آن که تا داند یقین ** خرمن آن ماست خوبان دانه‌چین
We take them back, in order that he may know for sure that the stack is Ours and the fair ones are (only) gleaners;
تا بداند کان حلل عاریه بود ** پرتوی بود آن ز خورشید وجود
That he may know that those robes were a loan: ’twas a ray from the Sun of Being.”
آن جمال و قدرت و فضل و هنر ** ز آفتاب حسن کرد این سو سفر 985
(All) that beauty and power and virtue and knowledge have journeyed hither from the Sun of Excellence.
باز می‌گردند چون استارها ** نور آن خورشید ازین دیوارها
They, the light of that Sun, turn back again, like the stars, from these (bodily) walls.
پرتو خورشید شد وا جایگاه ** ماند هر دیوار تاریک و سیاه
(When) the Sunbeam has gone home, every wall is left dark and black.
آنک کرد او در رخ خوبانت دنگ ** نور خورشیدست از شیشه‌ی سه رنگ
That which made thee amazed at the faces of the fair is the Light of the Sun (reflected) from the three-coloured glass.
شیشه‌های رنگ رنگ آن نور را ** می‌نمایند این چنین رنگین بما
The glasses of diverse hue cause that Light to seem coloured like this to us.
چون نماند شیشه‌های رنگ‌رنگ ** نور بی‌رنگت کند آنگاه دنگ 990
When the many-coloured glasses are no more, then the colourless Light makes thee amazed.
خوی کن بی‌شیشه دیدن نور را ** تا چو شیشه بشکند نبود عمی
Make it thy habit to behold the Light without the glass, in order that when the glass is shattered there may not be blindness (in thee).
قانعی با دانش آموخته ** در چراغ غیر چشم افروخته
Thou art content with knowledge learned (from others): thou hast lit thine eye at another's lamp.
او چراغ خویش برباید که تا ** تو بدانی مستعیری نی‌فتا
He takes away his lamp, that thou mayst know thou art a borrower, not a giver.
گر تو کردی شکر و سعی مجتهد ** غم مخور که صد چنان بازت دهد
If thou hast rendered thanks (to God for what thou hast received) and made the utmost exertion (in doing so), be not grieved (at its loss), for He will give (thee) a hundred such (gifts) in return;
ور نکردی شکر اکنون خون گری ** که شدست آن حسن از کافر بری 995
But if thou hast not rendered thanks, weep (tears of) blood now, for that (spiritual) excellence has become quit of (has abandoned) the ungrateful.
امة الکفران اضل اعمالهم ** امة الایمان اصلح بالهم
He (God) causeth the works of the unbelieving people to be lost; He maketh the state of the believing people to prosper.
گم شد از بی‌شکر خوبی و هنر ** که دگر هرگز نبیند زان اثر
From the ungrateful man (his) excellence and knowledge disappear, so that never again does he see a trace of them.
خویشی و بی‌خویشی و سکر وداد ** رفت زان سان که نیاردشان به یاد
(His feelings of) affinity and non-affinity and gratitude and affection vanish in such wise that he cannot remember them;
که اضل اعمالهم ای کافران ** جستن کامست از هر کام‌ران
For, O ingrates, (the words) He causeth their works to be lost are (signify) the flight of (every) object of desire from every one who has obtained his desire (in this world),
جز ز اهل شکر و اصحاب وفا ** که مریشان راست دولت در قفا 1000
Excepting the thankful and faithful who are attended by fortune.
دولت رفته کجا قوت دهد ** دولت آینده خاصیت دهد
How should the past fortune bestow strength (on its possessors)? ’Tis the future fortune that bestows a special virtue.
قرض ده زین دولت اندر اقرضوا ** تا که صد دولت ببینی پیش رو
In (obedience to the Divine command) “Lend,” make a loan (to God) from this (worldly) fortune, that thou mayst see a hundred fortunes before thy face.