در عمارت هستی و جنگی بود ** نیست را از هستها ننگی بود
In the state of cultivation there is existence and strife (contrariety): the non-existent is ashamed of (all) existent things.
نی که هست از نیستی فریاد کرد ** بلکه نیست آن هست را واداد کرد
It is not the case that the existent implored help against (sought to escape from) nonexistence; nay, (’twas) the non-existent (that) repelled the existent.
تو مگو که من گریزانم ز نیست ** بلکه او از تو گریزان است بیست
Do not say, “I am fleeing from the non-existent”; nay, it is fleeing from you. Stop! (Do not fancy yourself to be fleeing.)
ظاهرا می‌‌خواندت او سوی خود ** وز درون می‌‌راندت با چوب رد2480
Outwardly it is calling you towards itself, but inwardly it is driving you away with the cudgel of rejection.
نعلهای باژگونه ست ای سلیم ** نفرت فرعون می‌‌دان از کلیم
O man of sound heart (mind), ’tis (a case of) reversed shoes: know that Pharaoh's abhorrence (of Moses) was (really) from (caused by) Moses.
سبب حرمان اشقیا از دو جهان که خسر الدنیا و الآخرة
The reason why the unblest are disappointed of both worlds, (according to the text) “he has lost this life and the life to come.”
چون حکیمک اعتقادی کرده است ** کاسمان بیضه زمین چون زرده است
The wretched philosopher being firmly convinced that the sky is an egg and the earth like its yolk,
گفت سائل چون بماند این خاکدان ** در میان این محیط آسمان
Some one asked him how this earth remains, in the midst of this surrounding expanse of sky,
همچو قندیلی معلق در هوا ** نی به اسفل می‌‌رود نی بر علی
Suspended in the air like a lamp, moving neither to the bottom nor to the top.
آن حکیمش گفت کز جذب سما ** از جهات شش بماند اندر هوا2485
The philosopher said to him, “It remains in the air because of the attraction exerted by the sky from (all) six directions.
چون ز مغناطیس قبه‌‌ی ریخته ** در میان ماند آهنی آویخته
(The sky is) like a vault moulded (made) of lodestone: (the earth like) a suspended piece of iron remains in the middle.”