When the ass is there, the saddle will certainly be yours: bread does not fail when you have the (vital) spirit.725
خر چو هست آید یقین پالان ترا ** کم نگردد نان چو باشد جان ترا
(On) the back of the ass is shop and wealth and gain; the pearl of your heart is the stock (which provides wealth) for a hundred bodies.
پشت خر دکان و مال و مکسب است ** در قلبت مایهی صد قالب است
Mount the ass bare-backed, O busybody: did not the Prophet ride the ass bare-backed?
خر برهنه بر نشین ای بو الفضول ** خر برهنه نه که راکب شد رسول
The Prophet rode (his beast) bare-backed; and the Prophet, it is said, journeyed on foot.
النبی قد رکب معروریا ** و النبی قیل سافر ماشیا
The ass, your fleshly soul, has gone off; tie it to a peg. How long will it run away from work and burden, how long?
شد خر نفس تو بر میخیش بند ** چند بگریزد ز کار و بار چند
It must bear the burden of patience and thanksgiving, whether for a hundred years or for thirty or twenty.730
بار صبر و شکر او را بردنی است ** خواه در صد سال و خواهی سی و بیست
None that is laden supported another's load; none reaped until he sowed something.
هیچ وازر وزر غیری بر نداشت ** هیچ کس ندرود تا چیزی نکاشت
’Tis a raw (absurd) hope; eat not what is raw, O son: eating raw brings illness to men.
طمع خام است آن مخور خام ای پسر ** خام خوردن علت آرد در بشر
(Do not say to yourself), “So-and-so suddenly found a treasure; I would like the same: neither work nor shop (for me)!”
کان فلانی یافت گنجی ناگهان ** من همان خواهم نه کار و نه دکان
That (discovery of treasure) is Fortune's doing (a piece of luck), and moreover it is rare: one must earn a living so long as the body is able.
کار بخت است آن و آن هم نادر است ** کسب باید کرد تا تن قادر است
How does earning a livelihood prevent the (discovery of) treasure? Do not retire from work: that (treasure), indeed, is (following) behind (the work).735
کسب کردن گنج را مانع کی است ** پا مکش از کار آن خود در پی است
See that you are not made captive by “if,” saying, “If I had done this or the other (thing),”
تا نگردی تو گرفتار اگر ** که اگر این کردمی یا آن دگر
For the sincere Prophet forbade (people) to say “if,” and said, “That is from hypocrisy”;
کز اگر گفتن رسول با وفاق ** منع کرد و گفت آن هست از نفاق
For the hypocrite died in saying “if,” and from saying “if” he won nothing but remorse.
کان منافق در اگر گفتن بمرد ** وز اگر گفتن بجز حسرت نبرد
Parable.
مثل
A certain stranger was hastily seeking a house: a friend took him to a house in ruins.
آن غریبی خانه میجست از شتاب ** دوستی بردش سوی خانهی خراب
He said (to the stranger), “If this (house) had a roof, it would be a home for you beside me.740
گفت او این را اگر سقفی بدی ** پهلوی من مر ترا مسکن شدی
Your family too would be comfortable, if it had another room in it.”
هم عیال تو بیاسودی اگر ** در میانه داشتی حجرهی دگر
“Yes,” said he, “it is nice (to be) beside friends, but my dear soul, one cannot lodge in ‘if’.”
گفت آری پهلوی یاران خوش است ** لیک ای جان در اگر نتوان نشست
All the world are seekers of happiness, and on account of a false happiness they are in the fire.
این همه عالم طلبکار خوشند ** وز خوش تزویر اندر آتشند
Old and young have become gold-seekers, but the common eye does not distinguish alloy from gold.
طالب زر گشته جمله پیر و خام ** لیک قلب از زر نداند چشم عام
The pure (gold) shot a beam on the alloy: see that you choose not the gold on the ground of (mere) opinion, without a touchstone.745
پرتوی بر قلب زد خالص ببین ** بیمحک زر را مکن از ظن گزین
If you have a touchstone, choose; otherwise, go, devote yourself to him that knows (the difference).
گر محک داری گزین کن ور نه رو ** نزد دانا خویشتن را کن گرو
Either you must have a touchstone within your own soul, or if you know not the Way, do not go forward alone.
یا محک باید میان جان خویش ** ور ندانی ره مرو تنها تو پیش
The cry of the ghouls is the cry of an acquaintance—an acquaintance who would lure you to perdition.
بانگ غولان هست بانگ آشنا ** آشنایی که کشد سوی فنا
She (the ghoul) keeps on crying, “Hark, O caravan people! Come towards me, here is the track and the landmarks.”
بانگ میدارد که هان ای کاروان ** سوی من آیید نک راه و نشان