روح را در غیب خود اشکنجه‌هاست ** لیک تا نجهی شکنجه در خفاست
Verily tortures are inflicted on the soul in the world invisible, but until you escape (from self-will) the torture is concealed (from view).
چون رهیدی بینی اشکنجه و دمار ** زانک ضد از ضد گردد آشکار
When you are freed you will behold the torture and perdition (of the soul), because contrary is made manifest by contrary.
آنک در چه زاد و در آب سیاه ** او چه داند لطف دشت و رنج چاه 3500
He that was born in the well (of the material world) and the black water, how should he know the pleasantness of the open country and (distinguish it from) the pain of (being in) the well?
چون رها کردی هوا از بیم حق ** در رسد سغراق از تسنیم حق
When, from fear of God, you have relinquished self-will, the goblet (of drink) from God's Tasním will arrive.
لا تطرق فی هواک سل سبیل ** من جناب الله نحو السلسبیل
Do not in your self-will make a way: ask of God's Majesty the way to Salsabíl.
لا تکن طوع الهوی مثل الحشیش ** ان ظل العرش اولی من عریش
Be not submissive to self-will (and yielding) like hay: in sooth the shade of the Divine Throne is better than the summer-house (of the world).
گفت سلطان اسپ را وا پس برید ** زودتر زین مظلمه بازم خرید
The Sultan said, “Take the horse back (to the Amír) and with all speed redeem (deliver) me from (committing) this wrong.”
با دل خود شه نفرمود این قدر ** شیر را مفریب زین راس البقر 3505
The King did not say in his heart, “Do not (seek to) deceive the lion so greatly by means of the head of an ox.
پای گاو اندر میان آری ز داو ** رو ندوزد حق بر اسپی شاخ گاو
You (the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk) drag in the ox in order to cheat (me): begone, God does not stick the horns of an ox upon a horse.”
بس مناسب صنعتست این شهره زاو ** کی نهد بر جسم اسپ او عضو گاو
This renowned Master-builder observes great congruity in His workmanship: how should He attach to a horse's body part of (the body of) an ox?
زاو ابدان را مناسب ساخته ** قصرهای منتقل پرداخته
The Master-builder has made (all) bodies congruously: He has constructed moving palaces,
در میان قصرها تخریج‌ها ** از سوی این سوی آن صهریج‌ها
(With) balconies in them and cisterns (distributing water) from this (part of the palace) to that;
وز درونشان عالمی بی‌منتها ** در میان خرگهی چندین فضا 3510
And within them an infinite world: all this (vast) expanse (is contained) in a single tent.
گه چو کابوسی نماید ماه را ** گه نماید روضه قعر چاه را
Now He causes (one beautiful as) the moon to seem like an incubus (nightmare), now He causes the bottom of a well to have the semblance of a garden.
قبض و بسط چشم دل از ذوالجلال ** دم به دم چون می‌کند سحر حلال
Inasmuch as the closing and opening of the eye of the heart by the Almighty is continually working lawful magic,
زین سبب درخواست از حق مصطفی ** زشت را هم زشت و حق را حق‌نما
For this reason Mustafá (Mohammed) entreated God, saying, “Let the false appear as false and the true as true,
تا به آخر چون بگردانی ورق ** از پشیمانی نه افتم در قلق
So that at last, when Thou turnest the leaf, I may not (be stricken) by sorrow (and) fall into agitation.”
مکر که کرد آن عماد الملک فرد ** مالک الملکش بدان ارشاد کرد 3515
(’Twas) the Lord of the Kingdom (that) guided the peerless ‘Imádu ’l- Mulk to the deception which he practised.
مکر حق سرچشمه‌ی این مکرهاست ** قلب بین اصبعین کبریاست
God's deception is the fountainhead of (all) these deceptions: the heart is between the two fingers of the (Divine) Majesty.
آنک سازد در دلت مکر و قیاس ** آتشی داند زدن اندر پلاس
He who creates deception and (false) analogy in your heart can (also) set the sackcloth (of deception) on fire.
رجوع کردن به قصه‌ی آن پای‌مرد و آن غریب وام‌دار و بازگشتن ایشان از سر گور خواجه و خواب دیدن پای‌مرد خواجه را الی آخره
Return to the Story of the bailiff and the poor debtor: how they turned back from the Khwája's grave, and how the bailiff saw the Khwája in a dream, etc.
بی‌نهایت آمد این خوش سرگذشت ** چون غریب از گور خواجه باز گشت
This goodly episode is endless (too long to relate in full). When the poor stranger turned back from the Khwája's grave,
پای مردش سوی خانه‌ی خویش برد ** مهر صد دینار را فا او سپرد
The bailiff took him to his house and handed over to him the purse of a hundred dinars.
لوتش آورد و حکایت‌هاش گفت ** کز امید اندر دلش صد گل شکفت 3520
He fetched viands for him and told him stories, so that from the (feeling of) hope (with which the bailiff inspired him) a hundred roses blossomed in his heart.
آنچ بعد العسر یسر او دیده بود ** با غریب از قصه‌ی آن لب گشود
He (the bailiff) opened his lips to relate the ease (prosperity) which he had experienced after difficulty (adversity).
نیم‌شب بگذشت و افسانه کنان ** خوابشان انداخت تا مرعای جان
Midnight passed, and (he was still) narrating: (then) sleep transported them to the meadow where the spirit feeds.