(If) your face is very beautiful, put some indigo on it (as an ornament); (but) indigo on the face of an Abyssinian (negro) would be a laughing-stock.
روت بس زیباست نیلی هم بکش ** ضحکه باشد نیل بر روی حبش
When did any (spiritual) light enter into you, O misguided man, that you should become a seeker of unconsciousness and darkness?
در تو نوری کی درآمد ای غوی ** تا تو بیهوشی و ظلمت‌جو شوی
’Tis the (approved) rule to seek the shadow during the day; (but) you seek the shadow on a cloudy night.
سایه در روزست جستن قاعده ** در شب ابری تو سایه‌جو شده
If it (wine) is lawful as sustenance for the common folk, (yet) it is unlawful to those who seek the Beloved.
گر حلال آمد پی قوت عوام ** طالبان دوست را آمد حرام
The wine for the lovers (of God) is their heart's blood: their eyes are (fixed) upon the Way and upon the Destination.3485
عاشقان را باده خون دل بود ** چشمشان بر راه و بر منزل بود
In this Way across the terrible wilderness the guide, Reason, suffers a hundred eclipses.
در چنین راه بیابان مخوف ** این قلاوز خرد با صد کسوف
(If) you throw dust in the eyes of the guides, you will cause the caravan to perish and lose the way.
خاک در چشم قلاوزان زنی ** کاروان را هالک و گمره کنی
In sooth, barley bread is unlawful and injurious to the carnal soul: set (only) bread made of bran before it.
نان جو حقا حرامست و فسوس ** نفس را در پیش نه نان سبوس
Keep in abject submission the enemy on the Way to God: do not place a pulpit for the robber, (but) keep him on the gibbet.
دشمن راه خدا را خوار دار ** دزد را منبر منه بر دار دار
Deem the amputation of the robber's hand desirable: if you are unable to cut his hand off, bind it.3490
دزد را تو دست ببریدن پسند ** از بریدن عاجزی دستش ببند
Unless you bind his hand, he will bind yours; unless you break his leg, he will break yours.
گر نبندی دست او دست تو بست ** گر تو پایش نشکنی پایت شکست
You give the enemy wine and sugar-cane—for what reason? Bid him laugh venomously and eat earth.”
تو عدو را می دهی و نی‌شکر ** بهر چه گو زهر خند و خاک خور
In his indignation he (the ascetic) hurled a stone at the jug and broke it: he (the slave) let the jug fall and sprang away from the ascetic.
زد ز غیرت بر سبو سنگ و شکست ** او سبو انداخت و از زاهد بجست
He went to the Amír, who said to him, “Where is the wine?” He (the slave) related in his presence all that had happened, point by point.
رفت پیش میر و گفتش باده کو ** ماجرا را گفت یک یک پیش او
How the enraged Amír set out to punish the ascetic.
رفتن امیر خشم‌آلود برای گوشمال زاهد
The Amír became like fire and jumped straight up. “Show me,” he cried, “where the ascetic's house is,3495
میر چون آتش شد و برجست راست ** گفت بنما خانه‌ی زاهد کجاست
That I may pound his head with this heavy club—his ignorant whoreson head.
تا بدین گرز گران کوبم سرش ** آن سر بی‌دانش مادرغرش
What should he know about enjoining (others) to do right? He is currishly seeking notoriety and fame,
او چه داند امر معروف از سگی ** طالب معروفی است و شهرگی
In order that by means of this hypocrisy he may make a position for himself and somehow make himself conspicuous;
تا بدین سالوس خود را جا کند ** تا به چیزی خویشتن پیدا کند
For in truth he has no talent save this alone, that he plays the hypocrite to all and sundry.
کو ندارد خود هنر الا همان ** که تسلس می‌کند با این و آن
If he is mad and bent on mischief, the cure for a madman is an ox-hide whip, [If he is mad and bent on mischief, the cure for a madman is a whip (made from) an ox’s penis,]3500
او اگر دیوانه است و فتنه‌کاو ** داروی دیوانه باشد کیر گاو
So that the devil may go forth from his head: how should an ass go (forward) without the ass-drivers' blows?”
تا که شیطان از سرش بیرون رود ** بی‌لت خربندگان خر چون رود
The Amír dashed out, with a mace in his hand: at midnight he came, half intoxicated, to the ascetic.