My wages are not his forty thousand (dirhems): how should glass beads be like the pearls of Aden?”
چل هزار او نباشد مزد من ** کی بود شبه شبه در عدن
I will tell you a story: listen to it attentively, that you may know that selfish desire is a plug in the ear.
یک حکایت گویمت بشنو به هوش ** تا بدانی که طمع شد بند گوش
Whosoever hath (such) desire becomes a stammerer (morally confused); with desire (present), how should the (spiritual) eye and the heart become bright?
هر که را باشد طمع الکن شود ** با طمع کی چشم و دل روشن شود
The fancy of power and wealth before his eye is just as a hair in the eye,580
پیش چشم او خیال جاه و زر ** همچنان باشد که موی اندر بصر
Except, to be sure, (in the case of) the intoxicated (saint) who is filled with God: though you give (him) treasures (vast riches), he is free;
جز مگر مستی که از حق پر بود ** گر چه بدهی گنجها او حر بود
(For) when any one enjoys vision (of God), this world becomes carrion in his eyes.
هر که از دیدار برخوردار شد ** این جهان در چشم او مردار شد
But that Súfí was far removed from (spiritual) intoxication; consequently he was night-blind (purblind) in (his) greed.
لیک آن صوفی ز مستی دور بود ** لاجرم در حرص او شب کور بود
The man dazed by greed may hear a hundred stories, (but) not a single point comes into the ear of greed.
صد حکایت بشنود مدهوش حرص ** در نیاید نکتهای در گوش حرص
How the criers of the Cadi advertised an insolvent round the town.
تعریف کردن منادیان قاضی مفلسی را گرد شهر
There was an insolvent person without house or home, who remained in prison and pitiless bondage.585
بود شخصی مفلسی بیخان و مان ** مانده در زندان وبند بیامان
He would unconscionably eat the rations of the prisoners; on account of (his) appetite he was (a burden) like Mount Qáf on the hearts of the people (in the gaol).
لقمهی زندانیان خوردی گزاف ** بر دل خلق از طمع چون کوه قاف