Original content

English translation

It kept turning in my heart and passing through my mind that this book would not soon reach its end, and that the pen, in pursuing its aims, would not for now rest from its movement. But since the mirror of the speaker's nature had taken on the rust of weariness and did not accept polishing through the burnisher of the listener's sincere eagerness, it was confined to just this much.

Spread out, O Jami, the plain of speech, for there is no carpet finer than that; yet sit silent and hold your breath, if your nature finds no joy in it. Nor is the joy of your own nature enough, if on the listener's part there is no delight.

And whatever verse has passed here and is not attributed to any other poet is the offspring of the nature of the writer of this treatise and the fruit of the settled thought of the author of this discourse.

Wherever Jami has composed and adorned a writing, he has borrowed nothing from anyone's words. One whose shop is full of wares of his own making has no business brokering the merchandise of others.

The hope placed in the noble character of the readers is that, when they notice a flaw, they will cover it with the skirt of pardon and forbearance, and will not strive to expose it with the tongue of faultfinding and objection.

When you see a fault in a friend, it is better not to tell it to strangers, for in the creed of those who think of the end, covering faults is better than seeking faults.

A fragment giving the date of the cutting-short of prolixity and the folding-up of the causes of long-windedness:

The running and striving of the pen in this wondrous book, with which Jami tried his talent, came to its end at a time when the date of the Hijra becomes nine hundred, if you add eight to it.

And what is asked of God, Possessor of Majesty and Honor, is triumph in attaining the goal, success in a good conclusion, and blessing and peace upon Muhammad and his righteous, noble family.