The cause of (his) delay in coming hither was lack of capability and defect of skill.”
موجب تاخیر اینجا آمدن ** فقد استعداد بود و ضعف فن
(If) you go into a mine without (having) capability, you will not gain possession of a single grain (of gold),4425
بی ز استعداد در کانی روی ** بر یکی حبه نگردی محتوی
Tanquam vir veneri inhabilis qui virginem emit: ea, etsi pectus argenteum (candidum) sit, frui quo pacto poterit? [Like an impotent man who buys a virgin (for a slave): even if she is a silver-breasted (beauty), how can he enjoy (her sexually)?]
هم‌چو عنینی که بکری را خرد ** گرچه سیمین‌بر بود کی بر خورد
(The incapable man is) like a lamp without oil or wick that gets neither much nor little from the (flaming) taper.
چون چراغی بی ز زیت و بی فتیل ** نه کثیرستش ز شمع و نه قلیل
(If) one who cannot smell enter a garden, how should his brain (nose) be delighted by the fragrant herbs?—
در گلستان اندر آید اخشمی ** کی شود مغزش ز ریحان خرمی
Tanquam formosa et venusta hospita viri debilis; (and) like the sound of a harp or lute in the ears of the deaf; [Like a beautiful (and) charming woman (who is) the guest of a feeble (impotent) man; (and like) the sound of a harp or lute in the ears of the deaf;]
هم‌چو خوبی دلبری مهمان غر ** بانگ چنگ و بربطی در پیش کر
(And) like the land-bird that falls into great waters: what should it find there but death and perdition?4430
هم‌چو مرغ خاک که آید در بحار ** زان چه یابد جز هلاک و جز خسار
(And) like one who, having no wheat, goes to a mill: nothing will be given to him except the whitening of his beard and hair (with flour).
هم‌چو بی‌گندم شده در آسیا ** جز سپیدی ریش و مو نبود عطا
The celestial mill bestows on those who have no wheat (only) whiteness of hair and weakness in the loins;
آسیای چرخ بر بی‌گندمان ** موسپیدی بخشد و ضعف میان
But on those who bring wheat with them this mill bestows empire and gives them sovereign power.
لیک با باگندمان این آسیا ** ملک‌بخش آمد دهد کار و کیا
You must first be qualified for Paradise in order that from Paradise the (everlasting) life may be born to you.
اول استعداد جنت بایدت ** تا ز جنت زندگانی زایدت
What pleasure has the new-born child in wine and roast-meat and palaces and domes?4435
طفل نو را از شراب و از کباب ** چه حلاوت وز قصور و از قباب
These parables have no limit: do not seek (more) words (of this kind): go and acquire capability!
حد ندارد این مثل کم جو سخن ** تو برو تحصیل استعداد کن
(The announcer said), “He tarried until now for the sake of capability (qualification), (but) ere it was acquired his longing burst (all) bounds.”
بهر استعداد تا اکنون نشست ** شوق از حد رفت و آن نامد به دست
He (the prince) said, “Capability too is imparted by the King: how should the body be made capable without (the intervention of) the soul?”
گفت استعداد هم از شه رسد ** بی ز جان کی مستعد گردد جسد
(Then) the favours of the King did away with his anguish: he had gone to hunt the King: he became the King's prey.
لطف‌های شه غمش را در نوشت ** شد که صید شه کند او صید گشت
(The announcer said), “Whosoever goes in chase of a quarry like thee does not catch his quarry till he is himself caught.”4440
هر که در اشکار چون تو صید شد ** صید را ناکرده قید او قید شد
’Tis certain that every seeker of princedom is thrown into captivity before (he gains) it.
هرکه جویای امیری شد یقین ** پیش از آن او در اسیری شد رهین
Know that what is depicted on this mundane frontispiece is preposterous: every slave to the world is named “lord of the world.”
عکس می‌دان نقش دیباجه‌ی جهان ** نام هر بنده‌ی جهان خواجه‌ی جهان
O wrong-thinking perversely-acting body, thou that hast enthralled a hundred thousand freemen,
ای تن کژ فکرت معکوس‌رو ** صد هزار آزاد را کرده گرو
Abandon this guileful plotting for a time: live free a few moments ere thou die;
مدتی بگذار این حیلت پزی ** چند دم پیش از اجل آزاد زی
For if, like the (heavily-laden) ass, thou hast no way of attaining to freedom, thy movement, like that of the bucket, can only be (down) into the well.4445
ور در آزادیت چون خر راه نیست ** هم‌چو دلوت سیر جز در چاه نیست
Go, take leave of my spirit for awhile: go, seek another companion instead of me.