- By the truth of that King who created thee pure and displayed so many cressets in thee,
- حق آن شه که ترا صاف آفرید ** کرد چندان مشعله در تو پدید
- Who hath kept thee so flourishing and lasting that the materialist hath thought thee (existent) from eternity.
- آن چنان معمور و باقی داشتت ** تا که دهری از ازل پنداشتت
- Thanks (to God), we have come to know thy beginning: the prophets have told that secret of thine.
- شکر دانستیم آغاز ترا ** انبیا گفتند آن راز ترا
- A man knows that a house is made (at some time or other); the spider which plays idly in it (knows) not (this). 2320
- آدمی داند که خانه حادث است ** عنکبوتی نه که در وی عابث است
- How should the gnat know of what date this garden is?––for ‘twas born in spring, and its death is in the (following) winter.
- پشه کی داند که این باغ از کی است ** کاو بهاران زاد و مرگش در دی است
- The worm that is born miserably in (dry) wood––how should it know the wood at the time when it was a (sappy) shoot?
- کرم کاندر چوب زاید سست حال ** کی بداند چوب را وقت نهال
- And if the worm should know (this), it would be intellect in its essential substance; the worm would be (only) its (outward) form.
- ور بداند کرم از ماهیتش ** عقل باشد کرم باشد صورتش
- Intellect shows itself (in many) guises, (but) like the Jinn is leagues removed from them (in its real nature).
- عقل خود را مینماید رنگها ** چون پری دور است از آن فرسنگها
- It is above the angels––what occasion is there for (comparing it with) the Jinn? (But) you have the wings of a gnat, you are flying downwards. 2325
- از ملک بالاست چه جای پری ** تو مگس پری به پستی میپری
- Although your intellect is flying upward, the bird of your conventional notions is feeding below.
- گر چه عقلت سوی بالا میپرد ** مرغ تقلیدت به پستی میچرد
- Conventional knowledge is the bane of our souls; it is a borrowed thing, but we rest (at ease in the belief) that it is ours.
- علم تقلیدی وبال جان ماست ** عاریه ست و ما نشسته کان ماست
- It behoves us to become ignorant of this (worldly) wisdom; (rather) must we clutch at madness.
- زین خرد جاهل همی باید شدن ** دست در دیوانگی باید زدن
- Always flee from whatever you deem profitable to your (lower) self: drink poison and spill the water of life.
- هر چه بینی سود خود ز آن میگریز ** زهر نوش و آب حیوان را بریز
- Revile any one that praises you: lend (both) interest and capital to the destitute. 2330
- هر که بستاند ترا دشنام ده ** سود و سرمایه به مفلس وام ده
- Let safety go, and dwell in the place of fear (danger): leave reputation behind and be disgraced and notorious.
- ایمنی بگذار و جای خوف باش ** بگذر از ناموس و رسوا باش و فاش
- I have tried far-thinking (provident) intellect; henceforth I will make myself mad.
- آزمودم عقل دور اندیش را ** بعد از این دیوانه سازم خویش را
- How Dalqak excused himself to the Sayyid-i Ajall (who asked him) why he had married a harlot.
- عذر گفتن دلقک با سید که چرا فاحشه را نکاح کرد
- One night the Sayyid-i Ajall said to Dalqak, “You have married a harlot in haste.
- گفت با دلقک شبی سید اجل ** قحبهای را خواستی تو از عجل
- You ought to have disclosed this (matter) to me, so that we might have made a chaste (woman) your wife.”
- با من این را باز میبایست گفت ** تا یکی مستور کردیمیت جفت
- Dalqak replied, “I have (already) married nine chaste and virtuous women: they became harlots, and I wasted away with grief. 2335
- گفت نه مستور صالح خواستم ** قحبه گشتند و ز غم تن کاستم
- I married this harlot without (previous) acquaintance (with her), in order to see how this one (also) would turn out in the end.
- خواستم این قحبه را بیمعرفت ** تا ببینم چون شود این عاقبت
- Often have I tried (sound) intelligence; henceforth I will seek a nursery for insanity.”
- عقل را من آزمودم هم بسی ** زین سپس جویم جنون را مغرسی
- How an inquirer managed to draw into conversation an eminent (saintly) man who had feigned to be mad.
- به حیلت در سخن آوردن سائل آن بزرگ را که خود را دیوانه ساخته بود
- A certain man was saying, “I want some one of intelligence, (that) I may consult him about a difficulty.”
- آن یکی میگفت خواهم عاقلی ** مشورت آرم بدو در مشکلی
- One said to him, “In our city there is nobody of intelligence except yonder man who appears to be mad.
- آن یکی گفتش که اندر شهر ما ** نیست عاقل جز که آن مجنوننما
- Look, there is (one named) so-and-so: mounted on a cane, he rides (it as a cock-horse) amongst the children. 2340
- بر نیی گشته سواره نک فلان ** میدواند در میان کودکان
- He is possessed of judgment and (keen as) a spark of fire; he is as the sky in dignity, and as the stars in high estate.
- صاحب رای است و آتش پارهای ** آسمان قدر است و اختر بارهای