The bird whose dwelling-place is the briny water, how should it know where to find in it the clear (and sweet) water?
مرغ کآب شور باشد مسکنش ** او چه داند جای آب روشنش
O thou whose abode is in the briny spring, how shouldst thou know the Shatt and the Jayhún and the Euphrates?2725
ای که اندر چشمه‌ی شورست جان ** تو چه دانی شط و جیحون و فرات
O thou who hast not escaped from this fleeting caravanseray (the material world), how shouldst thou know (the meaning of) “self-extinction” and (mystical) “intoxication” and “expansion”?
ای تو نارسته از این فانی رباط ** تو چه دانی محو و سکر و انبساط
And if thou knowest, ’tis (by rote, like the knowledge) handed down to thee from father and grandfather: to thee these names are like abjad.
ور بدانی نقلت از اب وز جد است ** پیش تو این نامها چون ابجد است
How plain and evident to all children are abjad and hawwaz, and (yet) the real meaning is far away (hard to reach).
ابجد و هوز چه فاش است و پدید ** بر همه طفلان و معنی بس بعید
Then the Arab man took up the jug and set out to journey, carrying it along (with him) day and night.
پس سبو برداشت آن مرد عرب ** در سفر شد می‌‌کشیدش روز و شب
He was trembling for the jug, in fear of Fortune's mischiefs: all the same, he conveyed it from the desert to the city (Baghdád).2730
بر سبو لرزان بد از آفات دهر ** هم کشیدش از بیابان تا به شهر
His wife unrolled the prayer-rug in supplication; she made (the words) Rabbi sallim (Save, O Lord) her litany in prayer,
زن مصلا باز کرده از نیاز ** رب سلم ورد کرده در نماز
Crying, “Keep our water safe from scoundrels! O Lord, let that pearl arrive at that sea!
که نگه دار آب ما را از خسان ** یا رب آن گوهر بدان دریا رسان
Although my husband is shrewd and artful, yet the pearl has thousands of enemies.
گر چه شویم آگه است و پر فن است ** لیک گوهر را هزاران دشمن است