- There is a friendship like a cutting sword, (destructive) as December in the gardens and cornfields; 265
- صحبتی باشد چو شمشیر قطوع ** همچو دی در بوستان و در زروع
- There is a friendship like the season of spring, whence (come) restorations and produce incalculable.
- صحبتی باشد چو فصل نوبهار ** زو عمارتها و دخل بیشمار
- Prudence is this, that you think evil, so that you may flee and become quit of evil.
- حزم آن باشد که ظن بد بری ** تا گریزی و شوی از بد بری
- The Prophet has said, “Prudence is (consists in) thinking evil”: know that for every footstep there is a snare, O fool!
- حزم س الظن گفتست آن رسول ** هر قدم را دام میدان ای فضول
- The surface of the plateau is level and broad, (but at) every step there is a snare: do not advance boldly.
- روی صحرا هست هموار و فراخ ** هر قدم دامیست کم ران اوستاخ
- The mountain-goat runs on, saying, “Where is the snare?” As it speeds onward, the snare lights on its throat. 270
- آن بز کوهی دود که دام کو ** چون بتازد دامش افتد در گلو
- O thou who saidst “Where?” look and see! Thou sawest the plain, (but) thou didst not see the ambush.
- آنک میگفتی که کو اینک ببین ** دشت میدیدی نمیدیدی کمین
- Without ambush and snare and hunter, O cunning one, how should there be a sheep's tail (laid in a trap) amidst the cornfield?
- بی کمین و دام و صیاد ای عیار ** دنبه کی باشد میان کشتزار
- They that came along boldly on the earth—see their bones and skulls!
- آنک گستاخ آمدند اندر زمین ** استخوان و کلههاشان را ببین
- When you go to the graveyard, O you with whom God is pleased, ask their bones concerning that which is past,
- چون به گورستان روی ای مرتضا ** استخوانشان را بپرس از ما مضی