- None that is raw understands the state of the ripe: therefore my words must be brief. Farewell!
- درنیابد حال پخته هیچ خام ** پس سخن کوتاه باید و السلام
- O son, burst thy chains and be free! How long wilt thou be a bondsman to silver and gold?
- بند بگسل، باش آزاد ای پسر ** چند باشی بند سیم و بند زر
- If thou pour the sea into a pitcher, how much will it hold? One day's store. 20
- گر بریزی بحر را در کوزه‌‌ای ** چند گنجد قسمت یک روزه‌‌ای
- The pitcher, the eye of the covetous, never becomes full: the oyster-shell is not filled with pearls until it is contented.
- کوزه‌‌ی چشم حریصان پر نشد ** تا صدف قانع نشد پر در نشد
- He (alone) whose garment is rent by a (mighty) love is purged entirely of covetousness and defect.
- هر که را جامه ز عشقی چاک شد ** او ز حرص و عیب کلی پاک شد
- Hail, our sweet-thoughted Love —thou that art the physician of all our ills,
- شاد باش ای عشق خوش سودای ما ** ای طبیب جمله علتهای ما
- The remedy of our pride and vainglory, our Plato and our Galen!
- ای دوای نخوت و ناموس ما ** ای تو افلاطون و جالینوس ما
- Through Love the earthly body soared to the skies: the mountain began to dance and became nimble. 25
- جسم خاک از عشق بر افلاک شد ** کوه در رقص آمد و چالاک شد
- Love inspired Mount Sinai, O lover, (so that) Sinai (was made) drunken and Moses fell in a swoon.
- عشق جان طور آمد عاشقا ** طور مست و خر موسی صاعقا
- Were I joined to the lip of one in accord with me, I too, like the reed, would tell all that may be told;
- با لب دمساز خود گر جفتمی ** همچو نی من گفتنیها گفتمی
- (But) whoever is parted from one who speaks his language becomes dumb, though he have a hundred songs.
- هر که او از هم زبانی شد جدا ** بی‌‌زبان شد گر چه دارد صد نوا
- When the rose is gone and the garden faded, thou wilt hear no more the nightingale's story.
- چون که گل رفت و گلستان در گذشت ** نشنوی ز ان پس ز بلبل سر گذشت
- The Beloved is all and the lover (but) a veil; the Beloved is living and the lover a dead thing. 30
- جمله معشوق است و عاشق پرده‌‌ای ** زنده معشوق است و عاشق مرده‌‌ای
- When Love hath no care for him, he is left as a bird without wings. Alas for him then!
- چون نباشد عشق را پروای او ** او چو مرغی ماند بی‌‌پر، وای او
- How should I have consciousness (of aught) before or behind when the light of my Beloved is not before me and behind?
- من چگونه هوش دارم پیش و پس ** چون نباشد نور یارم پیش و پس
- Love wills that this Word should be shown forth: if the mirror does not reflect, how is that?
- عشق خواهد کاین سخن بیرون بود ** آینه غماز نبود چون بود
- Dost thou know why the mirror (of thy soul) reflects nothing? Because the rust is not cleared from its face.
- آینه‌‌ت دانی چرا غماز نیست ** ز انکه زنگار از رخش ممتاز نیست
- How the king fell in love with the sick handmaiden and made plans to restore her health.
- عاشق شدن پادشاه بر کنیزک رنجور و تدبیر کردن در صحت او
- O my friends, hearken to this tale: in truth it is the very marrow of our inward state. 35
- بشنوید ای دوستان این داستان ** خود حقیقت نقد حال ماست آن
- In olden time there was a king to whom belonged the power temporal and also the power spiritual.
- بود شاهی در زمانی پیش از این ** ملک دنیا بودش و هم ملک دین
- It chanced that one day he rode with his courtiers to the chase.
- اتفاقا شاه روزی شد سوار ** با خواص خویش از بهر شکار
- On the king's highway the king espied a handmaiden: the king was enthralled by her.
- یک کنیزک دید شه بر شاه راه ** شد غلام آن کنیزک جان شاه
- Forasmuch as the bird, his soul, was fluttering in its cage, he gave money and bought the handmaiden.
- مرغ جانش در قفس چون می‌‌طپید ** داد مال و آن کنیزک را خرید
- After he had bought her and won to his desire, by Divine destiny she sickened. 40
- چون خرید او را و برخوردار شد ** آن کنیزک از قضا بیمار شد
- A certain man had an ass but no pack-saddle: (as soon as) he got a saddle, the wolf carried away his ass.
- آن یکی خر داشت، پالانش نبود ** یافت پالان گرگ خر را در ربود
- He had a pitcher, but no water could be obtained: when he found water, the pitcher broke.
- کوزه بودش آب می‌‌نامد به دست ** آب را چون یافت خود کوزه شکست