In wedlock both the partners must be equal, otherwise it will pinch, and (their) happiness will not endure.’
کفو باید هر دو جفت اندر نکاح ** ورنه تنگ آید نماند ارتیاح
How the wife said that she (the lady) was not bent upon household goods, and that what she wanted was modesty and virtue; and how the Súfí answered her (his wife) cryptically.
گفتن زن کی او در بند جهاز نیست مراد او ستر و صلاحست و جواب گفتن صوفی این را سرپوشیده
She (the wife) said, ‘I gave such an excuse, but she said, No, I am not one who seeks (worldly) means.
گفت گفتم من چنین عذری و او ** گفت نه من نیستم اسباب جو
We are sick and surfeited with possessions and gold; we are not like the common folk in regard to coveting and amassing (wealth).
ما ز مال و زر ملول و تخمه‌ایم ** ما به حرص و جمع نه چون عامه‌ایم
Our quest is (for) modesty and purity and virtue: truly, welfare in both worlds depends on that.’200
قصد ما سترست و پاکی و صلاح ** در دو عالم خود بدان باشد فلاح
The Súfí once more made the excuse of poverty and repeated it, so that it should not be hidden.
باز صوفی عذر درویشی بگفت ** و آن مکرر کرد تا نبود نهفت
The wife replied, ‘I too have repeated it and have explained our lack of household goods;
گفت زن من هم مکرر کرده‌ام ** بی‌جهازی را مقرر کرده‌ام
(But) her resolution is firmer than a mountain, for she is not dismayed by a hundred poverties.
اعتقاد اوست راسختر ز کوه ** که ز صد فقرش نمی‌آید شکوه
She keeps saying, What I want is chastity: the thing sought from you is sincerity and high-mindedness.’
او همی‌گوید مرادم عفتست ** از شما مقصود صدق و همتست
The Súfí said, ‘In sooth she has seen and is seeing our household goods and possessions, (both) the overt and the covert—205
گفت صوفی خود جهاز و مال ما ** دید و می‌بیند هویدا و خفا
A narrow house, a dwelling-place for a single person, where a needle would not remain hid.
خانه‌ی تنگی مقام یک تنی ** که درو پنهان نماند سوزنی