So long as he (such an one) decks out the warp and woof of (his own) cleverness, he cannot open his eyes to the Sun.
تا بر آراید هنر را تار و پود ** چشم در خورشید نتواند گشود
He does not lift up branches (to the sky) like a date-palm: he has bored holes in the earth after the fashion of mice.
هم‌چو نخلی برنیارد شاخها ** کرده موشانه زمین سوراخها
This humankind have four heart-oppressing qualities: these four have become the gibbet of Reason.30
چار وصفست این بشر را دل‌فشار ** چارمیخ عقل گشته این چهار
Commenting on “Take four birds and turn them towards thee.”
تفسیر خذ اربعة من الطیر فصرهن الیک
O thou whose intelligence is (resplendent) as the Sun, thou art the Khalíl (Abraham) of the time: kill these four birds that infest the Way,
تو خلیل وقتی ای خورشیدهش ** این چهار اطیار ره‌زن را بکش
Because each of them, crow-like, is plucking the eye from the intellect of the intelligent.
زانک هر مرغی ازینها زاغ‌وش ** هست عقل عاقلان را دیده‌کش
The four bodily qualities resemble the birds of Khalíl: their slaughter makes way for the soul (to ascend).
چار وصف تن چو مرغان خلیل ** بسمل ایشان دهد جان را سبیل
O Khalíl, in (accomplishing) the deliverance of good and bad (alike), cut off their heads that the feet (of the people) may escape from the barrier (which confines them).
ای خلیل اندر خلاص نیک و بد ** سر ببرشان تا رهد پاها ز سد
Thou art all, and they all are parts of thee: open (the prison), for their feet are thy feet.35
کل توی و جملگان اجزای تو ** بر گشا که هست پاشان پای تو
By thee the (whole) world is made a place abounding in spirit: a single cavalier becomes the support of a hundred armies.
از تو عالم روح زاری می‌شود ** پشت صد لشکر سواری می‌شود
Inasmuch as this body is the abode (nest) of (these) four dispositions, they are named the four mischief-seeking birds.
زانک این تن شد مقام چار خو ** نامشان شد چار مرغ فتنه‌جو