آنک بی وزرست شیخست ای جوان ** در قبول حق چواندر کف کمان
O youth, the Shaykh is he that is without a burden and is like a bow in the hand (a mere instrument) in receiving (the command of) God.
شیخ کی بود پیر یعنی مو سپید ** معنی این مو بدان ای کژ امید1790
Who is a “Shaykh”? An old man (pír), that is (to say), white-haired. Do thou apprehend the meaning of this “(white) hair,” O you whose hopes are false.
هست آن موی سیه هستی او ** تا ز هستی‌اش نماند تای مو
The black hair is his self-existence: (he is not “old”) till not a single hair of his self-existence remains.
چونک هستی‌اش نماند پیر اوست ** گر سیه‌مو باشد او یا خود دوموست
When his self-existence has ceased, he is “old” (pír), whether he be black-haired or grizzled.
هست آن موی سیه وصف بشر ** نیست آن مو موی ریش و موی سر
That “black hair” is the attribute of (sensual) men; that “hair” is not the hair of the beard or the hair of the head.
عیسی اندر مهد بر دارد نفیر ** که جوان ناگشته ما شیخیم و پیر
Jesus in the cradle raises a cry, saying, “Without having become a youth, I am a Shaykh and a Pír.”
گر رهید از بعض اوصاف بشر ** شیخ نبود کهل باشد ای پسر1795
If he (the Súfí) has been delivered from (only) a part of the attributes of (sensual) men, he is not a Shaykh; he is grey (middle-aged), O son.
چون یکی موی سیه کان وصف ماست ** نیست بر وی شیخ و مقبول خداست
When there is not on him a single black hair (of the self-existence) which is our attribute, (then) he is a Shaykh and accepted of God;
چون بود مویش سپید ار با خودست ** او نه پیرست و نه خاص ایزدست
(But) if, when his hair is white, he is (still) with himself (self-existent), he is not a Pír and is not the elect of God;
ور سر مویی ز وصفش باقیست ** او نه از عرش است او آفاقیست
And if a single hair-tip of his (sensual) attributes is surviving, he is not of heaven: he belongs to the (material) world.
عذر گفتن شیخ بهر ناگریستن بر فرزندان
How the Shaykh excused himself for not weeping on the death of his sons.