’Tis the Justice of the Dispenser, ’tis an act of (just) dispensation: the wonder is this, that (in the Divine dispensation) there is neither compulsion nor injustice.
عدل قسامست و قسمت کردنیست ** این عجب که جبر نی و ظلم نیست
Were there compulsion, how would there be repentance? Were there injustice, how would there be protection?
جبر بودی کی پشیمانی بدی ** ظلم بودی کی نگهبانی بدی
The day is ended: the lesson will be to-morrow: how should the day (of this life) contain our mystery?1645
روز آخر شد سبق فردا بود ** راز ما را روز کی گنجا بود
O thou who hast put firm confidence in the breath (vain words) and flattery of a scoundrel,
ای بکرده اعتماد واثقی ** بر دم و بر چاپلوس فاسقی
Thou hast raised up a tent of bubbles: in the end (thou wilt find that) that tent has exceedingly weak ropes.
قبه‌ای بر ساختستی از حباب ** آخر آن خیمه‌ست بس واهی‌طناب
Hypocrisy is like lightning, and in its gleam the travellers cannot see the way.
زرق چون برقست و اندر نور آن ** راه نتوانند دیدن ره‌روان
This world and its people are good-for-nothing: both are unanimous in respect of (their) faithlessness.
این جهان و اهل او بی‌حاصل‌اند ** هر دو اندر بی‌وفایی یکدل‌اند
The son of the world (the worldling) is faithless like the world: though he turn the face towards thee, that face is (really) the nape (back).1650
زاده‌ی دنیا چو دنیا بی‌وفاست ** گرچه رو آرد به تو آن رو قفاست
The people of that (other) world, like that world, on account of (their) probity continue for ever in (observance of their) covenant and promise.
اهل آن عالم چو آن عالم ز بر ** تا ابد در عهد و پیمان مستمر
When, in sooth, did two prophets oppose each other? When did they wrest (their) evidential miracles (spiritual powers and privileges) from one another?
خود دو پیغمبر به هم کی ضد شدند ** معجزات از همدگر کی بستدند