The names “princehood,” “vizierate,” and “kingship” (are enticing, but) hidden beneath them is death and pain and giving up the ghost.
نام میری و وزیری و شهی ** در نهانش مرگ و درد و جان‌دهی
Be a slave (of God) and walk on the earth like a horse (under the rider), not like a bier which is carried on the necks (of the bearers).
بنده باش و بر زمین رو چون سمند ** چون جنازه نه که بر گردن برند
The ungrateful (worldly) man wishes all people to carry him: they bring him, like a dead rider, to the grave.325
جمله را حمال خود خواهد کفور ** چون سوار مرده آرندش به گور
If you dream of any one (being carried) on a bier, he will become a high-stirruped rider of (will rise to high eminence in) office.
بر جنازه هر که را بینی به خواب ** فارس منصب شود عالی رکاب
Inasmuch as the coffin is a burden on the people (who carry it), these grandees have laid the burden (of their rank and riches) on (the necks of) the people (whom they oppress).
زانک آن تابوت بر خلقست بار ** بار بر خلقان فکندند این کبار
Do not lay your burden on any one, lay it on yourself: do not seek eminence, ’tis best to be poor.
بار خود بر کس منه بر خویش نه ** سروری را کم طلب درویش به
Do not be perpetually riding on the necks of people, lest gout attack your feet.
مرکب اعناق مردم را مپا ** تا نیاید نقرست اندر دو پا
The vehicle which you will curse in the end, saying, “Thou resemblest a (flourishing) city, but thou art (really) a ruined village”—330
مرکبی را که آخرش تو ده دهی ** که به شهری مانی و ویران‌دهی
Curse it now when it (still) appears to you like a city, in order that (ultimately) you may not have to unload in the wilderness.
ده دهش اکنون که چون شهرت نمود ** تا نباید رخت در ویران گشود
Curse it now when you (still) possess a hundred gardens, lest you become unable (to renounce it) and (become) devoted to the wilderness (of worldly fortune).
ده دهش اکنون که صد بستانت هست ** تا نگردی عاجز و ویران‌پرست