-
اختران چشم و گوش و هوش ما ** شب کجااند و به بیداری کجا
- (Yet ask thyself) where are our stars—eye, ear, and mind—at night, and where (are they) when we are awake?
-
گاه در سعد و وصال و دلخوشی ** گاه در نحس فراق و بیهشی
- Now (they are) in good luck and union and happiness; now in ill-luck and separation and insensibility.
-
ماه گردون چون درین گردیدنست ** گاه تاریک و زمانی روشنست
- Since the moon of heaven is (engaged) in making this circuit, she is sometimes dark and sometimes bright.
-
گه بهار و صیف هم‌چون شهد و شیر ** گه سیاستگاه برف و زمهریر 925
- Sometimes ’tis spring and summer, (delicious) as honey and milk; sometimes (the world is) a place of punishment by snow and piercing cold.
-
چونک کلیات پیش او چو گوست ** سخره و سجده کن چوگان اوست
- Seeing that before Him (God) universals are like a ball, subject (to Him) and prostrating themselves before His bat,
-
تو که یک جزوی دلا زین صدهزار ** چون نباشی پیش حکمش بی‌قرار
- How shouldst thou, O heart, which art (but) one of these hundred thousand particulars, not be in restless movement at His decree?
-
چون ستوری باش در حکم امیر ** گه در آخر حبس گاهی در مسیر
- Be at the disposal of the Prince, like a horse (or mule), now confined in the stable, now going (on the road).
-
چونک بر میخت ببندد بسته باش ** چونک بگشاید برو بر جسته باش
- When He fastens thee to a peg, be fastened (quiet and submissive); when He looses thee, go, be exultant (prance and bound).
-
آفتاب اندر فلک کژ می‌جهد ** در سیه‌روزی خسوفش می‌دهد 930
- (But keep on the right road, for when) the sun in heaven jumps crookedly, He causes it to be eclipsed in black disgrace,
-
کز ذنب پرهیز کن هین هوش‌دار ** تا نگردی تو سیه‌رو دیگ‌وار
- Saying, “Avoid the (Dragon's) Tail: hark, take heed, lest thou become black of face like a cooking-pot.”