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6
3456-3480

  • کای اچی بس خوب اسپی نیست این  ** از بهشتست این مگر نه از زمین 
  • Saying, “O vizier, is not this an exceedingly beautiful horse? Surely it belongs to Paradise, not to the earth.”

  • پس عماد الملک گفتش ای خدیو  ** چون فرشته گردد از میل تو دیو 
  • Thereupon the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk said to him, “O emperor, a demon is made angelic by thy (fond) inclination.

  • در نظر آنچ آوری گردید نیک  ** بس گش و رعناست این مرکب ولیک 
  • That on which thou lookest (fondly) becomes (appears good (to thee). This steed is very handsome and graceful, and yet

  • هست ناقص آن سر اندر پیکرش  ** چون سر گاوست گویی آن سرش 
  • The head is a blemish in its (elegant) form: you might say that its head is like the head of an ox.”

  • در دل خوارمشه این دم کار کرد  ** اسپ را در منظر شه خوار کرد  3460
  • These words worked on the heart of the Khwárizmsháh and caused the horse to be cheap in the king's sight.

  • چون غرض دلاله گشت و واصفی  ** از سه گز کرباس یابی یوسفی 
  • When prejudice becomes a go-between and describer (of beauty), you may get (buy) a Joseph for three ells of linen.

  • چونک هنگام فراق جان شود  ** دیو دلال در ایمان شود 
  • When the hour arrives for the spirit's parting (from the body), the Devil becomes a broker (depreciator) of the pearl of Faith,

  • پس فروشد ابله ایمان را شتاب  ** اندر آن تنگی به یک ابریق آب 
  • And then in that (moment of) sore distress the fool hastily sells his faith for a jug of water;

  • وان خیالی باشد و ابریق نی  ** قصد آن دلال جز تخریق نی 
  • But ’tis a (mere) phantom and not (really) a jug: the aim of the broker (the Devil) is naught but trickery.

  • این زمان که تو صحیح و فربهی  ** صدق را بهر خیالی می‌دهی  3465
  • At this (present) time, when you are healthy and fat, you are giving up the Truth for a phantom.

  • می‌فروشی هر زمانی در کان  ** هم‌چو طفلی می‌ستانی گردگان 
  • You are constantly selling the pearls of the (spiritual) mine and taking walnuts (in exchange), like a child;

  • پس در آن رنجوری روز اجل  ** نیست نادر گر بود اینت عمل 
  • Therefore it is no wonder if you act in this (same) way in the (mortal) sickness of your day of doom (death).

  • در خیالت صورتی جوشیده‌ای  ** هم‌چو جوزی وقت دق پوسیده‌ای 
  • You have concocted an idea (a vain notion) in your fancy: when you are rattled (tested) like a walnut, you are (proved to be) rotten.

  • هست از آغاز چون بدر آن خیال  ** لیک آخر می‌شود هم‌چون هلال 
  • In the beginning that phantom resembles the full-moon, but in the end it will become like the new-moon.

  • گر تو اول بنگری چون آخرش  ** فارغ آیی از فریب فاترش  3470
  • If you regard its first (state) as being (really) like its last (state), you will be quit of its feeble deception.

  • جوز پوسیده‌ست دنیا ای امین  ** امتحانش کم کن از دورش ببین 
  • This world is a rotten walnut: O man of trust, do not make trial of it, (but) behold it from afar.

  • شاه دید آن اسپ را با چشم حال  ** وآن عمادالملک با چشم مل 
  • The king viewed the horse with regard to the present, while the ‘Imádu ’l- Mulk (viewed it) with regard to the future.

  • چشم شه دو گز همی دید از لغز  ** چشم آن پایان‌نگر پنجاه گز 
  • The king's eye, because of (its) distortion, saw (only) two ells, (but) the eye of him who regarded the end saw fifty ells.

  • آن چه سرمه‌ست آنک یزدان می‌کشد  ** کز پس صد پرده بیند جان رشد 
  • What a (wondrous) collyrium is that which God applies (to the spiritual eye), so that the spirit discerns the truth behind a hundred curtains!

  • چشم مهتر چون به آخر بود جفت  ** پس بدان دیده جهان را جیفه گفت  3475
  • Since the Chief's (the Prophet's) eye was ever fixed on the end, by reason of (seeing with) that eye he called the world a carcase.

  • زین یکی ذمش که بشنود او وحسپ  ** پس فسرد اندر دل شه مهر اسپ 
  • On hearing only this single (word of) blame from him (the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk), the love (that was) in the king's heart for the horse became chilled.

  • چشم خود بگذاشت و چشم او گزید  ** هوش خود بگذاشت و قول او شنید 
  • He abandoned his own eye and preferred his (the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk's) eye: he abandoned his own intelligence and hearkened to his (the other's) words.

  • این بهانه بود و آن دیان فرد  ** از نیاز آن در دل شه سرد کرد 
  • This (speech of the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk) was (only) the pretext, and (in reality) at (his) entreaty the unique Judge caused it (the horse) to be cold (despicable) in the king's heart.

  • در ببست از حسن او پیش بصر  ** آن سخن بد در میان چون بانگ در 
  • He (God) shut the door on its beauty (made its beauty invisible) to the eye (of the king): those words (of the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk) intervened (between the king's eye and the horse) like the sound of the door.

  • پرده کرد آن نکته را بر چشم شه  ** که از آن پرده نماید مه سیه  3480
  • He (God) made that cryptic saying a veil over the king's eye, a veil through which the moon appears to be black.