روزی به غرور جوانی سخت رانده بودم و شبانگاه به پای گریوهای سست مانده.
پیرمردی ضعیف از پس کاروان همیآمد و گفت: چه نشینی که نه جای خفتن است؟
گفتم: چون روم که نه پای رفتن است؟!
گفت: این نشنیدی که صاحبدلان گفتهاند: رفتن و نشستن به که دویدن و گسستن.
ای که مشتاق منزلی مشتاب
پند من کار بند و صبر آموز
اسب تازی دو تگ رود به شتاب
و اشتر آهسته میرود شب و روز
One day, in the pride of youth, I had travelled hard and arrived perfectly exhausted in the evening at the foot of an acclivity. A weak old man, who had likewise been following the caravan, came and asked me why I was sleeping, this not being the place for it. I replied: ‘How am I to travel, having lost the use of my feet?’ He said: ‘Hast thou not heard that it is better to walk gently and to halt now and then than to run and to become exhausted?’
O thou who desirest to reach the station Take my advice and learn patience. An Arab horse gallops twice in a race. A camel ambles gently night and day.
Zameen