Show favour to the mosque and its founders. Thou art the moon, we are the night: comply with us for a moment,
مسجد و اصحاب مسجد را نواز ** تو مهی ما شب دمی با ما بساز
In order that by thy beauty night may be made like day, O thou whose beauty is a soul-illumining sun.”
تا شود شب از جمالت همچو روز ** ای جمالت آفتاب جان فروز
Alas! would that those words had been from the heart, so that the desire of those folk might have been accomplished!
ای دریغا کان سخن از دل بدی ** تا مراد آن نفر حاصل شدی
Courtesy that comes to the tongue without (sincerity of) heart and soul is like herbs on the ash-heap, O friends.2840
لطف کاید بیدل و جان در زبان ** همچو سبزهی تون بود ای دوستان
Look at them from afar and pass on: they are not fit for eating or smelling, O son.
هم ز دورش بنگر و اندر گذر ** خوردن و بو را نشاید ای پسر
Beware, do not go (incline) towards the courtesy of the faithless, for it is a ruined bridge: heed well (my warning).
سوی لطف بیوفایان هین مرو ** کان پل ویران بود نیکو شنو
If a fool set foot on it, the bridge will break, and will shatter that foot of his.
گر قدم را جاهلی بر وی زند ** بشکند پل و آن قدم را بشکند
Wherever an army is routed, it is because of two or three effeminate weaklings.
هر کجا لشکر شکسته میشود ** او دو سه سست مخنث میبود
He (the poltroon) comes armed into the battle-line, like a man: they (the soldiers) put their trust in him, saying, “Here's the Comrade of the Cave.”2845
در صف آید با سلاح او مردوار ** دل بر او بنهند کاینک یار غار
He turns his face (in flight) when he sees wounds: his going breaks your back.