For whom are the good women? For the good men. Make thy friend pleased (with thee); offend (him) and see (what will happen).1495
طیبات از بهر که للطیبین ** یار را خوش کن برنجان و ببین
O heart, bring (forward) a parable for the sake of (illustrating) a difference, that thou mayst know (what distinguishes) compulsion from freewill.
یک مثال ای دل پی فرقی بیار ** تا بدانی جبر را از اختیار
(Take the case of) a hand that is shaking from (morbid or involuntary) tremor and (the case of) a person whose hand you cause to shake (by knocking it away) from its place.
دست کان لرزان بود از ارتعاش ** و آن که دستی را تو لرزانی ز جاش
Know that both (these) movements are created by God, but it is impossible to compare the latter with the former.
هر دو جنبش آفریده‌‌ی حق شناس ** لیک نتوان کرد این با آن قیاس
You are sorry for having caused it (his hand) to shake: when did you see the man afflicted with (a morbid) tremor (to be) sorry?
ز آن پشیمانی که لرزانیدی‌‌اش ** مرتعش را کی پشیمان دیدی‌‌اش
This is the intellectual quest— (but) what (sort of) intellect is that ingenious one? (The object of its quest is) perchance (by its means) a man of weak understanding may find his way to that place (gain some idea of the truth).1500
بحث عقل است این چه عقل آن حیله‌‌گر ** تا ضعیفی ره برد آن جا مگر
(Yet) the intellectual quest, though it be (fine as) pearls and coral, is other than the spiritual quest.
بحث عقلی گر در و مرجان بود ** آن دگر باشد که بحث جان بود
The spiritual quest is on another plane: the spiritual wine has another consistency.
بحث جان اندر مقامی دیگر است ** باده‌‌ی جان را قوامی دیگر است
At the time when the intellectual quest was in keeping (with the circumstances), this ‘Umar was intimate with Bu ’l-Hakam,
آن زمان که بحث عقلی ساز بود ** این عمر با بو الحکم هم راز بود
(But) when ‘Umar went away from intellect towards spirit, Bu ’l-Hakam became Bú Jahl (the father of ignorance) in the case of that (spiritual quest).
چون عمر از عقل آمد سوی جان ** بو الحکم بو جهل شد در حکم آن