این همه اوصافشان نیکو شود ** بد نماند چونک نیکوجو شود
(Yet) all these (evil) qualities of theirs may become good: evil does not remain when it turns to seeking good.
گر منی گنده بود هم‌چون منی ** چون به جان پیوست یابد روشنی 125
If egoism is foul-smelling like semen, (yet) when it attains unto the spirit (spirituality) it gains light.
هر جمادی که کند رو در نبات ** از درخت بخت او روید حیات
Every mineral that sets its face towards (aspires to evolve into) the plant (the vegetative state)—life grows from the tree of its fortune.
هر نباتی کان به جان رو آورد ** خضروار از چشمه‌ی حیوان خورد
Every plant that turns its face towards the (animal) spirit drinks, like Khizr, from the Fountain of Life.
باز جان چون رو سوی جانان نهد ** رخت را در عمر بی‌پایان نهد
Once more, when the (animal) spirit sets its face towards the (Divine) Beloved, it lays down its baggage (and passes) into the life without end.
سال سایل از مرغی کی بر سر ربض شهری نشسته باشد سر او فاضل‌ترست و عزیزتر و شریف‌تر و مکرم‌تر یا دم او و جواب دادن واعظ سایل را به قدر فهم او
How an inquirer asked (a preacher) about a bird that was supposed to have settled on the wall of a city—“Is its head more excellent and estimable and noble and honourable or its tail?”—and how the preacher gave him a reply suited to the measure of his understanding.
واعظی را گفت روزی سایلی ** کای تو منبر را سنی‌تر قایلی
One day an inquirer said to a preacher, “O thou who art the pulpit's most eminent expounder,
یک سالستم بگو ای ذو لباب ** اندرین مجلس سالم را جواب 130
I have a question to ask. Answer my question in this assembly-place, O possessor of the marrow (of wisdom).
بر سر بارو یکی مرغی نشست ** از سر و از دم کدامینش بهست
A bird has settled on the city-wall: which is better—its head or its tail?”
گفت اگر رویش به شهر و دم به ده ** روی او از دم او می‌دان که به
He replied, “If its face is to the town and its tail to the country, know that its face is better than its tail;
ور سوی شهرست دم رویش به ده ** خاک آن دم باش و از رویش بجه
But if its tail is towards the town and its face to the country, be the dust on that tail and spring away from its face.”