He (the vizier) said, “Leave him and two hundred (other) lickers-up of hope to me, and write this (down) against me.”
گفت او را و دو صد اومیدلیس ** تو به من بگذار این بر من نویس
Then the minister threw him into (the pains of) expectation: winter and December passed and spring came.
پس فکندش صاحب اندر انتظار ** شد زمستان و دی و آمد بهار
In expectation of it (the reward) the poet grew old; then he was crushed by this anxiety and making shift to provide (the means of livelihood),
شاعر اندر انتظارش پیر شد ** پس زبون این غم و تدبیر شد
And said (to the vizier), “If there is no gold (for me), please give me abuse, so that my soul may be delivered (from expectation) (and that) I may be thy (devoted) slave.
گفت اگر زر نه که دشنامم دهی ** تا رهد جانم ترا باشم رهی
Expectation has killed me: at least bid me go, that this wretched soul may be delivered from bondage.”1225
انتظارم کشت باری گو برو ** تا رهد این جان مسکین از گرو
After that, he (the vizier) gave him the fortieth part of that (gift): the poet remained in heavy thought,
بعد از آنش داد ربع عشر آن ** ماند شاعر اندر اندیشه‌ی گران
(Thinking), “That (former gift) was so promptly paid and was so much: this one that blossomed late was (only) a handful of thorns.”
کانچنان نقد و چنان بسیار بود ** این که دیر اشکفت دسته‌ی خار بود
Then they (the courtiers) said to him, “That generous vizier has departed from this life: may God reward thee!
پس بگفتندش که آن دستور راد ** رفت از دنیا خدا مزدت دهاد
For those gifts were always multiplied (increased in amount) by him: there was no fault to be found with the donations (then);
که مضاعف زو همی‌شد آن عطا ** کم همی‌افتاد بخشش را خطا
(But) now, he is gone and has taken beneficence away (with him): he is not dead, (but) beneficence is dead (in this world), yea, verily.1230
این زمان او رفت و احسان را ببرد ** او نمرد الحق بلی احسان بمرد
The generous and upright minister is gone from us; the minister who is a flayer of the poor has arrived.
رفت از ما صاحب راد و رشید ** صاحب سلاخ درویشان رسید
Go, take this (money) and flee from here by night, lest this minister pick a quarrel with thee.
رو بگیر این را و زینجا شب گریز ** تا نگیرد با تو این صاحب‌ستیز
We have obtained this gift from him by a hundred devices, O thou who art ignorant of our exertions.”
ما به صد حیلت ازو این هدیه را ** بستدیم ای بی‌خبر از جهد ما
He turned his face to them and said, “O kindly men, tell (me), whence came this myrmidon (ruffian)?
رو بایشان کرد و گفت ای مشفقان ** از کجا آمد بگویید این عوان
What is the name of this vizier who tears off the clothes (of the poor)?” The company (of courtiers) said to him, “His name too is Hasan.”1235
چیست نام این وزیر جامه‌کن ** قوم گفتندش که نامش هم حسن
He (the poet) cried, “O Lord, how are the names of that one and this one the same? Alas, O Lord of the Judgement!
گفت یا رب نام آن و نام این ** چون یکی آمد دریغ ای رب دین
That Hasan by name (was such) that by a single pen of his a hundred viziers and ministers are disposed to liberality.
آن حسن نامی که از یک کلک او ** صد وزیر و صاحب آید جودخو
This Hasan (is such) that from the ugly beard of this Hasan thou canst weave, O (dear) soul, a hundred ropes.”
این حسن کز ریش زشت این حسن ** می‌توان بافید ای جان صد رسن
When a king listens to such a minister, he (the minister) disgraces the king and his kingdom unto everlasting.
بر چنین صاحب چو شه اصغا کند ** شاه و ملکش را ابد رسوا کند
The resemblance of the bad judgement of this base vizier in corrupting the king's generosity to (that of) the vizier of Pharaoh, namely, Hámán, in corrupting the readiness of Pharaoh to receive (the true Faith).
مانستن بدرایی این وزیر دون در افساد مروت شاه به وزیر فرعون یعنی هامان در افساد قابلیت فرعون
How many a time did Pharaoh soften and become submissive when he was hearing that Word from Moses!—1240
چند آن فرعون می‌شد نرم و رام ** چون شنیدی او ز موسی آن کلام
That Word (which was such) that from the sweetness of that incomparable Word the rock would have yielded milk.
آن کلامی که بدادی سنگ شیر ** از خوشی آن کلام بی‌نظیر
Whenever he took counsel with Hámán, who was his vizier and whose nature it was to hate,
چون بهامان که وزیرش بود او ** مشورت کردی که کینش بود خو
Then he (Hámán) would say, “Until now thou hast been the Khedive: wilt thou become, through deception, the slave to a wearer of rags?”
پس بگفتی تا کنون بودی خدیو ** بنده گردی ژنده‌پوشی را بریو
Those words would come like a stone shot by a mangonel (ballista) and strike upon his glass house.
هم‌چو سنگ منجنیقی آمدی ** آن سخن بر شیشه خانه‌ی او زدی
All that the Kalím of sweet address built up in a hundred days he (Hámán) would destroy in one moment.1245
هر چه صد روز آن کلیم خوش‌خطاب ** ساختی در یک‌دم او کردی خراب
Thy intellect is the vizier and is overcome by sensuality: in (the realm of) thy being it is a brigand (that attacks thee) on the Way to God.
عقل تو دستور و مغلوب هواست ** در وجودت ره‌زن راه خداست
(If) a godly monitor give thee good advice, it will artfully put those words (of his) aside,
ناصحی ربانیی پندت دهد ** آن سخن را او به فن طرحی نهد
Saying, “These (words) are not well-founded: take heed, don't be carried away (by them); they are not (worth) so much: come to thyself (be sensible), don't be crazed.”
کین نه بر جایست هین از جا مشو ** نیست چندان با خود آ شیدا مشو
Alas for the king whose vizier is this (carnal intellect): the place (abode) of them both is vengeful Hell.
وای آن شه که وزیرش این بود ** جای هر دو دوزخ پر کین بود
Happy is the king whose helper in affairs is a vizier like Ásaf.1250
شاد آن شاهی که او را دست‌گیر ** باشد اندر کار چون آصف وزیر
When the just king is associated with him, his (the king's) name is light upon light.
شاه عادل چون قرین او شود ** نام آن نور علی نور این بود
A king like Solomon and a vizier like Ásaf are light upon light and ambergris upon ‘abír.
چون سلیمان شاه و چون آصف وزیر ** نور بر نورست و عنبر بر عبیر