(Yet) all these (evil) qualities of theirs may become good: evil does not remain when it turns to seeking good.
این همه اوصافشان نیکو شود ** بد نماند چونک نیکوجو شود
If egoism is foul-smelling like semen, (yet) when it attains unto the spirit (spirituality) it gains light.125
گر منی گنده بود هم‌چون منی ** چون به جان پیوست یابد روشنی
Every mineral that sets its face towards (aspires to evolve into) the plant (the vegetative state)—life grows from the tree of its fortune.
هر جمادی که کند رو در نبات ** از درخت بخت او روید حیات
Every plant that turns its face towards the (animal) spirit drinks, like Khizr, from the Fountain of Life.
هر نباتی کان به جان رو آورد ** خضروار از چشمه‌ی حیوان خورد
Once more, when the (animal) spirit sets its face towards the (Divine) Beloved, it lays down its baggage (and passes) into the life without end.
باز جان چون رو سوی جانان نهد ** رخت را در عمر بی‌پایان نهد
How an inquirer asked (a preacher) about a bird that was supposed to have settled on the wall of a city—“Is its head more excellent and estimable and noble and honourable or its tail?”—and how the preacher gave him a reply suited to the measure of his understanding.
سال سایل از مرغی کی بر سر ربض شهری نشسته باشد سر او فاضل‌ترست و عزیزتر و شریف‌تر و مکرم‌تر یا دم او و جواب دادن واعظ سایل را به قدر فهم او
One day an inquirer said to a preacher, “O thou who art the pulpit's most eminent expounder,
واعظی را گفت روزی سایلی ** کای تو منبر را سنی‌تر قایلی
I have a question to ask. Answer my question in this assembly-place, O possessor of the marrow (of wisdom).130
یک سالستم بگو ای ذو لباب ** اندرین مجلس سالم را جواب
A bird has settled on the city-wall: which is better—its head or its tail?”
بر سر بارو یکی مرغی نشست ** از سر و از دم کدامینش بهست
He replied, “If its face is to the town and its tail to the country, know that its face is better than its tail;
گفت اگر رویش به شهر و دم به ده ** روی او از دم او می‌دان که به
But if its tail is towards the town and its face to the country, be the dust on that tail and spring away from its face.”
ور سوی شهرست دم رویش به ده ** خاک آن دم باش و از رویش بجه
A bird flies to its nest by means of wings: the wings of Man are aspiration, O people.
مرغ با پر می‌پرد تا آشیان ** پر مردم همتست ای مردمان
(In the case of) the lover who is soiled with good and evil, do not regard the good and evil; (only) regard the aspiration.135
عاشقی که آلوده شد در خیر و شر ** خیر و شر منگر تو در همت نگر
If a falcon be white and beyond compare, (yet) it becomes despicable when it hunts a mouse;
باز اگر باشد سپید و بی‌نظیر ** چونک صیدش موش باشد شد حقیر
And if there be an owl that has desire for the king, it is (noble as) the falcon's head: do not regard the hood.
ور بود چغدی و میل او به شاه ** او سر بازست منگر در کلاه
Man, no bigger than a kneading-trough (scooped in a log), has surpassed (in glory) the heavens and the aether (the empyrean).
آدمی بر قد یک طشت خمیر ** بر فزود از آسمان و از اثیر
Did this heaven ever hear (the words) We have honoured which this sorrowful Man heard (from God)?
هیچ کرمنا شنید این آسمان ** که شنید این آدمی پر غمان
Did any one offer to earth and sky (his) beauty and reason and eloquence and fond affection?140
بر زمین و چرخ عرضه کرد کس ** خوبی و عقل و عبارات و هوس
Didst thou ever display to heaven thy beauty of countenance and thy sureness of judgement in (matters of) opinion?
جلوه کردی هیچ تو بر آسمان ** خوبی روی و اصابت در گمان
Didst thou ever, O son, offer thy silvery limbs to the pictured forms in the bath-house?
پیش صورتهای حمام ای ولد ** عرضه کردی هیچ سیم‌اندام خود
(No); thou leavest those houri-like figures and displayest thyself to a half-blind old woman.