“Oh, where hast thou been, brother?” “Nowhere.” “Oh, what hast thou cooked to eat?” “No (good) soup.”
هی کجا بودی برادر هیچ جا ** هی چه پختی بهر خوردن هیچ با
Become a buyer, that my hand may move (to sell to thee), and that my pregnant mine may bring forth the ruby.
مشتری شو تا بجنبد دست من ** لعل زاید معدن آبست من
Though the buyer is slack and lukewarm, (yet) call (him) to the (true) religion, for the (command to) call hath come down (from God).
مشتری گرچه که سست و باردست ** دعوت دین کن که دعوت واردست
Let the falcon fly and catch the spiritual dove: in calling (to God) take the way of Noah.
باز پران کن حمام روح گیر ** در ره دعوت طریق نوح گیر
Perform an act of service for the Creator's sake: what hast thou to do with being accepted or rejected by the people?845
خدمتی میکن برای کردگار ** با قبول و رد خلقانت چه کار
Story of the person who was giving the drum-call for the sahúr at the gate of a certain palace at midnight. A neighbour said to him, “Why, it is midnight, it is not (yet) dawn; and besides, there is no one in this palace: for whose sake are you drumming?”—and the minstrel's reply to him.
داستان آن شخص کی بر در سرایی نیمشب سحوری میزد همسایه او را گفت کی آخر نیمشبست سحر نیست و دیگر آنک درین سرا کسی نیست بهر کی میزنی و جواب گفتن مطرب او را
A certain man was drumming at a certain gate to announce the sahúr: ’twas a court-house and the pavilion of a grandee.
آن یکی میزد سحوری بر دری ** درگهی بود و رواق مهتری
(Whilst) he was beating his drum vigorously at midnight, some one said to him, “O thou who art seeking (the means of) support,
نیمشب میزد سحوری را به جد ** گفت او را قایلی کای مستمد
Firstly, give this call to the sahúr at daybreak: midnight is not the time for (making) this disturbance;
اولا وقت سحر زن این سحور ** نیمشب نبود گه این شر و شور
And secondly, observe, O man of vain desire, whether in fact there is any one inside this house at midnight.
دیگر آنک فهم کن ای بوالهوس ** که درین خانه درون خود هست کس
There is nobody here except demons and spirits: why art thou trifling thy time away?850
کس درینجا نیست جز دیو و پری ** روزگار خود چه یاوه میبری