His (God's) is the crown (of sovereignty), ours the belt (of servitude): woe to him that passes beyond his proper bound!
تاج از آن اوست آن ما کمر ** وای او کز حد خود دارد گذر
Thy peacock-feathers are a (sore) temptation to thee, for thou must needs have co-partnership (with God) and All-holiness.535
فتنه‌ی تست این پر طاووسیت ** که اشتراکت باید و قدوسیت
Story of the Sage who saw a peacock tearing out his handsome feathers with his beak and dropping them (on the ground) and making himself bald and ugly. In astonishment he asked, “Hast thou no feeling of regret?” “I have,” said the peacock, “but life is dearer to me than feathers, and these (feathers) are the enemy of my life.”
قصه‌ی آن حکیم کی دید طاوسی را کی پر زیبای خود را می‌کند به منقار و می‌انداخت و تن خود را کل و زشت می‌کرد از تعجب پرسید کی دریغت نمی‌آید گفت می‌آید اما پیش من جان از پر عزیزتر است و این پر عدوی جان منست
A peacock was tearing out his feathers in the open country, where a sage had gone for a walk.
پر خود می‌کند طاوسی به دشت ** یک حکیمی رفته بود آنجا بگشت
He said, “O peacock, how art thou tearing out such fine feathers remorselessly from the root?
گفت طاوسا چنین پر سنی ** بی‌دریغ از بیخ چون برمی‌کنی
How indeed is thy heart consenting that thou shouldst tear off these gorgeous robes and let them fall in the mud?
خود دلت چون می‌دهد تا این حلل ** بر کنی اندازیش اندر وحل
Those who commit the Qur’án to memory place every feather of thine, on account of its being prized and acceptable, within the folding of the (Holy) Book.
هر پرت را از عزیزی و پسند ** حافظان در طی مصحف می‌نهند
For the sake of stirring the healthful air thy feathers are used as fans.540
بهر تحریک هوای سودمند ** از پر تو بادبیزن می‌کنند
What ingratitude and what recklessness is this! Dost not thou know who is their decorator?
این چه ناشکری و چه بی‌باکیست ** تو نمی‌دانی که نقاشش کیست
Or dost thou know (that) and art thou showing disdain and purposely tearing out (such) a (fine) broidery?
یا همی‌دانی و نازی می‌کنی ** قاصدا قلع طرازی می‌کنی
Oh, there is many a disdain that becomes a sin and causes the servant to fall from favour with the King (God).
ای بسا نازا که گردد آن گناه ** افکند مر بنده را از چشم شاه