Thou dost conceal riches in the lowliness of poverty, Thou dost fasten the necklace of wealth to the iron collar of poverty.”
توانگری پنهان کنی در ذل فقر ** طوق دولت بسته اندر غل فقر
Contrary is secretly enclosed in contrary: fire is enclosed in boiling water.3570
ضد اندر ضد پنهان مندرج ** آتش اندر آب سوزان مندرج
A (delightful) garden is enclosed in Nimrod's fire: revenues grow from giving and spending;
روضه اندر آتش نمرود درج ** دخل‌ها رویان شده از بذل و خرج
So that Mustafá (Mohammed), the King of prosperity, has said, “O possessors of wealth, munificence is a gainful trade.”
تا بگفته مصطفی شاه نجاح ** السماح یا اولی النعمی رباح
Riches were never diminished by alms-giving: in sooth, acts of charity are an excellent means of attaching (wealth) to one's self.
ما نقص مال من الصدقات قط ** انما الخیرات نعم المرتبط
In the poor-tax is (involved) the overflow and increase of (one's) gold: in the ritual prayer is (involved) preservation from lewdness and iniquity.
جوشش و افزونی زر در زکات ** عصمت از فحشا و منکر در صلات
The poor-tax is the keeper of your purse, the ritual prayer is the shepherd who saves you from the wolves.3575
آن زکاتت کیسه‌ات را پاسبان ** وآن صلاتت هم ز گرگانت شبان
The sweet fruit is hidden in boughs and leaves: the everlasting life is (hidden) under death.
میوه‌ی شیرین نهان در شاخ و برگ ** زندگی جاودان در زیر مرگ
Dung, by a certain manner (of assimilation), becomes nutriment for the earth, and by means of that food a fruit is born to the earth.
زبل گشته قوت خاک از شیوه‌ای ** زان غذا زاده زمین را میوه‌ای
An existence is concealed in non-existence, an adorability in the nature of adoration.
درعدم پنهان شده موجودیی ** در سرشت ساجدی مسجودیی
The steel and flint are dark externally, (but) inwardly a (resplendent) light and a world-illuminating candle.
آهن و سنگ از برونش مظلمی ** اندرون نوری و شمع عالمی
In a single fear (danger) are enclosed a thousand securities; in the black (pupil) of the eye ever so many brilliancies.3580
درج در خوفی هزاران آمنی ** در سواد چشم چندان روشنی
Within the cow-like body there is a prince, a treasure deposited in a ruin,
اندرون گاو تن شه‌زاده‌ای ** گنج در ویرانه‌ای بنهاده‌ای
To the end that an old ass, Iblís to wit, may flee from that precious (treasure) and may see (only) the cow and not (see) the king.
تا خری پیری گریزد زان نفیس ** گاو بیند شاه نی یعنی بلیس
Story of the King who enjoined his three sons, saying, “In this journey through my empire establish certain arrangements in such-and-such a place and appoint certain viceroys in such-and-such a place, but for God's sake, for God's sake, do not go to such-and-such a fortress and do not roam around it.”
حکایت آن پادشاه و وصیت کردن او سه پسر خویش را کی درین سفر در ممالک من فلان جا چنین ترتیب نهید و فلان جا چنین نواب نصب کنید اما الله الله به فلان قلعه مروید و گرد آن مگردید
There was a King, and the King had three sons: all three (were) endowed with sagacity and discernment.
بود شاهی شاه را بد سه پسر ** هر سه صاحب‌فطنت و صاحب‌نظر
Each one (was) more praiseworthy than another in generosity and in battle and in exercising royal sway.
هر یکی از دیگری استوده‌تر ** در سخا و در وغا و کر و فر
The princes, (who were) the delight of the King's eye, stood together, like three candles, before the King,3585
پیش شه شه‌زادگان استاده جمع ** قرة العینان شه هم‌چون سه شمع
And the father's palm-tree was drawing water by a hidden channel from the two fountains (eyes) of the son.
از ره پنهان ز عینین پسر ** می‌کشید آبی نخیل آن پدر
So long as the water of this fountain is running swiftly from the son towards the gardens of his mother and father,
تا ز فرزند آب این چشمه شتاب ** می‌رود سوی ریاض مام و باب
His parents' gardens will always be fresh: their fountain is made to flow by (the water from) both these fountains.
تازه می‌باشد ریاض والدین ** گشته جاری عینشان زین هر دو عین
(But) when from sickness the (son's) fountain fails, the leaves and boughs of the (father's) palm-tree become withered.
چون شود چشمه ز بیماری علیل ** خشک گردد برگ و شاخ آن نخیل
The withering of his palm-tree tells plainly that the tree was drawing moisture from the son.3590