I can side (only) with him who is predominant: I (must) fall in the direction to which the predominant one is pulling (me).
یار آن تانم بدن کو غالبست ** آن طرف افتم که غالب جاذبست
Since (according to thy assertion) God was desiring of me a firm belief (in Islam), what is the use of His desire when He does not succeed (in attaining His object)?
چون خدا می‌خواست از من صدق زفت ** خواست او چه سود چون پیشش نرفت
The carnal soul and the Devil have carried their will to success, while that act of (Divine) favour has been defeated and pulverised.
نفس و شیطان خواست خود را پیش برد ** وآن عنایت قهر گشت و خرد و مرد
(’Tis as if) thou hadst built a palace and pavilion and erected therein a hundred beautiful (ornamental) designs,2920
تو یکی قصر و سرایی ساختی ** اندرو صد نقش خوش افراختی
And desired that that goodly place should be a mosque— and (then) some one else had come and made it a Christian monastery;
خواستی مسجد بود آن جای خیر ** دیگری آمد مر آن را ساخت دیر
Or (as if) thou hadst woven a piece of linen cloth, in order deftly to make it a coat for some one to wear,
یا تو بافیدی یکی کرباس تا ** خوش بسازی بهر پوشیدن قبا
And (when) thou wert desiring (it to be) a coat, a rival, from (motives of) hostility, made the linen stuff into a pair of trousers in spite of thee.
تو قبا می‌خواستی خصم از نبرد ** رغم تو کرباس را شلوار کرد
What resource has the linen, my dear friend, but to submit to the purpose of the one who is predominant?
چاره کرباس چه بود جان من ** جز زبون رای آن غالب شدن
(Since) he (the owner of the cloth) is reduced to submission, what is the crime of this linen? Who is he that is not dominated by the predominant?2925
او زبون شد جرم این کرباس چیست ** آنک او مغلوب غالب نیست کیست
When some one has forced his way in against his (the householder's) will and planted a thornbush in his property and house,
چون کسی بی‌خواست او بر وی براند ** خاربن در ملک و خانه‌ی او نشاند