The Chinese and the Greek Painters

در فرو بستند و صیقل می‌زدند

They shut the door and kept on polishing,

همچو گردون ساده و صافی شدند

until they were plain and clear as the sky.

از دو صد رنگی به بی‌رنگی رهیست

From two hundred colours there is a road to colourlessness;

رنگ چون ابرست و بی‌رنگی مهیست

colour is like a cloud, and colourlessness a moon.

هرچه اندر ابر ضو بینی و تاب

Whatever light and gleam you see in the cloud,

آن ز اختر دان و ماه و آفتاب

know that it comes from the stars, the moon and the sun.

چینیان چون از عمل فارغ شدند

When the Chinese had finished their work,

از پی شادی دهلها می‌زدند

they beat drums for joy.

شه در آمد دید آنجا نقشها

The king came in and saw the pictures there;

می‌ربود آن عقل را و فهم را

they were carrying off his reason and understanding.

بعد از آن آمد به سوی رومیان

After that he came over to the Greeks;

پرده را بالا کشیدند از میان

they drew back the curtain that hung between.

عکس آن تصویر و آن کردارها

The reflection of those pictures and that work

زد برین صافی شده دیوارها

fell upon these walls that had been polished clear.

هر چه آنجا دید اینجا به نمود

Whatever he had seen there looked finer here;

دیده را از دیده‌خانه می‌ربود

it was snatching the eye out of its socket.