آن اسیران اجل را عام داد ** نام امیران اجل اندر بلاد
To those prisoners of Doom (asírán-i ajal) the vulgar in (all) the lands have given the title of “most honourable Amírs” (amírán-i ajall).
صدر خوانندش که در صف نعال ** جان او پستست یعنی جاه و مال
They call high-placed (Sadr) him whose soul is (placed) low in the vestibule, that is to say, (worldly) power and riches.
شاه چون با زاهدی خویشی گزید ** این خبر در گوش خاتونان رسید
When the king chose (matrimonial) relationship with an ascetic, this news came to the ears of (his) ladies.
اختیار کردن پادشاه دختر درویش زاهدی را از جهت پسر و اعتراض کردن اهل حرم و ننگ داشتن ایشان از پیوندی درویش
How the king chose the daughter of a poor ascetic for his son and how the ladies of the harem raised objections and disdained the (proposed) alliance with the dervish.
مادر شه‌زاده گفت از نقص عقل ** شرط کفویت بود در عقل نقل
The prince's mother, from deficiency of understanding, said, “According to reason and tradition equality (of rank) is requisite.
تو ز شح و بخل خواهی وز دها ** تا ببندی پور ما را بر گدا3130
Thou from stinginess and miserliness and shrewdness wishest to ally our son with a beggar.”
گفت صالح را گدا گفتن خطاست ** کو غنی القلب از داد خداست
He (the king) said, “It is a fault to call the righteous man a beggar, for through the grace of God he is spiritually rich.
در قناعت می‌گریزد از تقی ** نه از لیمی و کسل هم‌چون گدا
He is taking refuge in contentment because of piety, not because of meanness and laziness, like the beggar.
قلتی کان از قناعت وز تقاست ** آن ز فقر و قلت دونان جداست
The penury which arises from contentment and piety is distinct from the poverty and penury of the base.
حبه‌ای آن گر بیابد سر نهد ** وین ز گنج زر به همت می‌جهد
If that one (the beggar) find a single groat, he bows his head (in homage), while this one (the righteous man) in his lofty aspiration recoils from a treasure of gold.
شه که او از حرص قصد هر حرام ** می‌کند او را گدا گوید همام3135
The king who from cupidity is betaking himself to everything unlawful— the man of noble mind calls him a beggar.”