(Who) said, ‘A man is with him whom he loves’: the heart is not severed from its object of desire.
گفت المرء مع محبوبه ** لا یفک القلب من مطلوبه
Do not sit in any place where there is a trap and bait: O thou who regardest (others) as weak, go, consider (what becomes of) those who regard (others) as weak.
هر کجا دامست و دانه کم نشین ** رو زبون‌گیرا زبون‌گیران ببین
O thou who regardest the weak as weak (and at thy mercy), know this, (that) there is a hand above thy hand, O youth.
ای زبون‌گیر زبونان این بدان ** دست هم بالای دستست ای جوان
Thou art weak (thyself) and thou regardest (others) as weak. Oh, wonderful! Thou art at once the prey and the hunter in pursuit (of the prey).750
تو زبونی و زبون‌گیر ای عجب ** هم تو صید و صیدگیر اندر طلب
Be not (one of those described in the Verse) before and behind them (We will set) a barrier, so that thou canst not see the enemy, though the enemy is manifest.
بین ایدی خلفهم سدا مباش ** که نبینی خصم را وآن خصم فاش
The greed of hunting makes (one) oblivious of being a prey: he (the hunter) tries to win hearts (though) he has lost his own.
حرص صیادی ز صیدی مغفلست ** دلبریی می‌کند او بی‌دلست
Be not thou inferior to a bird in (thy) seeking: (even) a sparrow sees (what is) before and behind.
تو کم از مرغی مباش اندر نشید ** بین ایدی خلف عصفوری بدید
When it approaches the grain (bait), at that moment it turns its head and face several times to front and rear,
چون به نزد دانه آید پیش و پس ** چند گرداند سر و رو آن نفس
(As though to say), ‘Oh, I wonder whether there is a fowler in front of me or behind, so that for fear of him I should abstain from this food.’755
کای عجب پیش و پسم صیاد هست ** تا کشم از بیم او زین لقمه دست
Do thou see behind (thee) the story of (what happened to) the wicked; see before (thee) the death of (many a) friend and neighbour,
تو ببین پس قصه‌ی فجار را ** پیش بنگر مرگ یار و جار را