When you have eaten or drunk (them) and they have become flesh and skin, He gives them the colour of flesh, but they are still the earth of (His) street.
چونک خوردی و شد آن لحم و پوست ** رنگ لحمش داد و این هم خاک کوست
’Tis from a bit of earth that He stitches the (body of) clay, and then makes the whole (fabric) a bit of earth again.
هم ز خاکی بخیه بر گل می‌زند ** جمله را هم باز خاکی می‌کند
Hindús and Qifcháq (Turks) and Greeks and Abyssinians— all have quite the same colour in the grave.
هندو و قفچاق و رومی و حبش ** جمله یک رنگ‌اند اندر گور خوش
So you may know that all those colours and pictures are entirely a mask and deceit and borrowed (ephemeral).4710
تا بدانی کان همه رنگ و نگار ** جمله روپوشست و مکر و مستعار
The only lasting colour is the dye of Allah: know that all the rest are tied (stuck) on (superficially) like a bell.
رنگ باقی صبغة الله است و بس ** غیر آن بر بسته دان هم‌چون جرس
The colour of sincerity and the colour of piety and intuitive faith will endure in the (devout) worshippers for evermore;
رنگ صدق و رنگ تقوی و یقین ** تا ابد باقی بود بر عابدین
And the colour of doubt and the colour of ingratitude and hypocrisy will endure in the undutiful soul for evermore;
رنگ شک و رنگ کفران و نفاق ** تا ابد باقی بود بر جان عاق
Like wicked Pharaoh's blackness of face, the colour whereof is enduring, though his body passes away.
چون سیه‌رویی فرعون دغا ** رنگ آن باقی و جسم او فنا
(And so with) the radiance and glory in the beauteous faces of the sincere (believers): their bodies pass away, but that remains till the Day of Judgement.4715
برق و فر روی خوب صادقین ** تن فنا شد وان به جا تو یومن دین
The only ugly one is that (eternally) ugly one; the only beautiful one is that (eternally) beautiful one: this one is always laughing and that one scowling.
زشت آن زشتست و خوب آن خوب و بس ** دایم آن ضحاک و این اندر عبس