Number 5

Iraqi style
English

Number 5

Only a man who knows nothing of Zoroaster's ways would throw away his gold on a pretty boy. Wherever you see a tall, cypress-like figure, keep your eyes on the face and spit into your fist. Since there is no gate to his backside and no trousers, no one will kill you for an innocent thing. And if it is coupling you crave, at most you'll push a finger in up to the ring. In the end the whole gain of it is this: that the hard and the soft in you go slack. If you think it over, it comes down to one donkey mounting the back of another.
Explanation: This is a coarse, satirical piece mocking the pursuit of young boys; the imagery is deliberately crude and dismissive. The 'cypress-like figure' is a stock Persian image for a tall, elegant youth.

Original · Persian

شمارهٔ ۵

زر به اَمرَد کسی دهد به‌گزاف که نداند طریقتِ زردشت
‌هر کجا سرو‌قامتی بینی ‌چشم در روی کن، خَیو در مشت
‌چون نه کونش دری ّ و نه شلوار ‌بی‌گناهت کسی نخواهد کشت
‌ور جماع آرزوت می‌‌باشد ‌تا به خاتم فروکنی انگشت
‌حاصل آن بیش نیست آخر کار ‌که شود با تو نرم کنگ و درشت
‌گر تأمل کنی، بدان مانَد ‌که خری را خری رَوَد در پشت