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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).
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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?”
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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;
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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.”
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مرغ با پر می‌پرد تا آشیان ** پر مردم همتست ای مردمان
- A bird flies to its nest by means of wings: the wings of Man are aspiration, O people.
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عاشقی که آلوده شد در خیر و شر ** خیر و شر منگر تو در همت نگر 135
- (In the case of) the lover who is soiled with good and evil, do not regard the good and evil; (only) regard the aspiration.
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باز اگر باشد سپید و بی‌نظیر ** چونک صیدش موش باشد شد حقیر
- If a falcon be white and beyond compare, (yet) it becomes despicable when it hunts a mouse;
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ور بود چغدی و میل او به شاه ** او سر بازست منگر در کلاه
- And if there be an owl that has desire for the king, it is (noble as) the falcon's head: do not regard the hood.
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آدمی بر قد یک طشت خمیر ** بر فزود از آسمان و از اثیر
- Man, no bigger than a kneading-trough (scooped in a log), has surpassed (in glory) the heavens and the aether (the empyrean).
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هیچ کرمنا شنید این آسمان ** که شنید این آدمی پر غمان
- Did this heaven ever hear (the words) We have honoured which this sorrowful Man heard (from God)?