These parables have no limit: do not seek (more) words (of this kind): go and acquire capability!
حد ندارد این مثل کم جو سخن ** تو برو تحصیل استعداد کن
(The announcer said), “He tarried until now for the sake of capability (qualification), (but) ere it was acquired his longing burst (all) bounds.”
بهر استعداد تا اکنون نشست ** شوق از حد رفت و آن نامد به دست
He (the prince) said, “Capability too is imparted by the King: how should the body be made capable without (the intervention of) the soul?”
گفت استعداد هم از شه رسد ** بی ز جان کی مستعد گردد جسد
(Then) the favours of the King did away with his anguish: he had gone to hunt the King: he became the King's prey.
لطف‌های شه غمش را در نوشت ** شد که صید شه کند او صید گشت
(The announcer said), “Whosoever goes in chase of a quarry like thee does not catch his quarry till he is himself caught.”4440
هر که در اشکار چون تو صید شد ** صید را ناکرده قید او قید شد
’Tis certain that every seeker of princedom is thrown into captivity before (he gains) it.
هرکه جویای امیری شد یقین ** پیش از آن او در اسیری شد رهین
Know that what is depicted on this mundane frontispiece is preposterous: every slave to the world is named “lord of the world.”
عکس می‌دان نقش دیباجه‌ی جهان ** نام هر بنده‌ی جهان خواجه‌ی جهان
O wrong-thinking perversely-acting body, thou that hast enthralled a hundred thousand freemen,
ای تن کژ فکرت معکوس‌رو ** صد هزار آزاد را کرده گرو
Abandon this guileful plotting for a time: live free a few moments ere thou die;
مدتی بگذار این حیلت پزی ** چند دم پیش از اجل آزاد زی
For if, like the (heavily-laden) ass, thou hast no way of attaining to freedom, thy movement, like that of the bucket, can only be (down) into the well.4445
ور در آزادیت چون خر راه نیست ** هم‌چو دلوت سیر جز در چاه نیست