At rise of dawn the field becomes green: the green blades and grain have grown up to (a man's) middle.
چون برآید صبح گردد سبز دشت ** تا میان رسته قصیل سبز و کشت
The cow falls to ravenously: till night she feeds on that (vegetation and devours it) entirely.
اندر افتد گاو با جوع البقر ** تا به شب آن را چرد او سر به سر
Again she becomes stout and fat and bulky: her body is filled with fat and strength.2860
باز زفت و فربه و لمتر شود ** آن تنش از پیه و قوت پر شود
Then again at night she (is stricken) by panic (and) falls into a fever (of anxiety), so that from fear of seeking (vainly) for fodder she becomes lean,
باز شب اندر تب افتد از فزع ** تا شود لاغر ز خوف منتجع
Thinking, “What shall I eat to-morrow at meal-time?” This is what that cow does for (many) years.
که چه خواهم خورد فردا وقت خور ** سالها اینست کار آن بقر
She never thinks, “All these years I have been eating from this meadow and this pasture;
هیچ نندیشد که چندین سال من ** می‌خورم زین سبزه‌زار و زین چمن
My provender has never failed (even) for a day: what, (then), is this fear and anguish and heart-burning of mine?”
هیچ روزی کم نیامد روزیم ** چیست این ترس و غم و دلسوزیم
(No); when night falls that stout cow becomes lean again, thinking, “Alas, the provender is gone.”2865
باز چون شب می‌شود آن گاو زفت ** می‌شود لاغر که آوه رزق رفت
The cow is the carnal soul, and the field is this world, where she (the carnal soul) is made lean by fear for her daily bread,
نفس آن گاوست و آن دشت این جهان ** کو همی لاغر شود از خوف نان
Thinking, “I wonder what I shall eat in the future: whence shall I seek food for to-morrow?”
که چه خواهم خورد مستقبل عجب ** لوت فردا از کجا سازم طلب