در میان شهر چون دریا روان ** پر ز کشتیها و شست ماهیان
Flowing like a sea through the city, full of boats and fishing-nets.
رو بر سلطان و کار و بار بین ** حس تجری تحتها الأنهار بین
Go to the Sultan and behold this pomp and state! Behold the senses of (those for whom God hath prepared gardens) beneath which the rivers flow!
این چنین حسها و ادراکات ما ** قطره‌‌ای باشد در آن نهر صفا
Our senses and perceptions, such as they are, are (but) a single drop in that pure river.
در نمد دوختن زن عرب سبوی آب باران را و مهر نهادن بر وی از غایت اعتقاد عرب
How the Arab's wife sewed the jug of rain-water in a felt cloth and put a seal on it because of the Arab's utter conviction (that it was a precious gift for the King).
مرد گفت آری سبو را سر ببند ** هین که این هدیه ست ما را سودمند2720
“Yes,” said the husband, “stop up the mouth of the jug. Take care, for this is a gift that will bring us profit.
در نمد در دوز تو این کوزه را ** تا گشاید شه به هدیه روزه را
Sew this jug in felt, that the King may break his fast with our gift,
کاین چنین اندر همه آفاق نیست ** جز رحیق و مایه‌‌ی اذواق نیست
For there is no (water) like this in all the world: it is naught but pure wine and the source of pleasures (to the taste).”
ز آن که ایشان ز آبهای تلخ و شور ** دایما پر علت‌‌اند و نیم کور
(This he said) because they (people like him) are always full of infirmity and half-blind from (drinking) bitter and briny waters.
مرغ کآب شور باشد مسکنش ** او چه داند جای آب روشنش
The bird whose dwelling-place is the briny water, how should it know where to find in it the clear (and sweet) water?
ای که اندر چشمه‌ی شورست جان ** تو چه دانی شط و جیحون و فرات2725
O thou whose abode is in the briny spring, how shouldst thou know the Shatt and the Jayhún and the Euphrates?
ای تو نارسته از این فانی رباط ** تو چه دانی محو و سکر و انبساط
O thou who hast not escaped from this fleeting caravanseray (the material world), how shouldst thou know (the meaning of) “self-extinction” and (mystical) “intoxication” and “expansion”?
ور بدانی نقلت از اب وز جد است ** پیش تو این نامها چون ابجد است
And if thou knowest, ’tis (by rote, like the knowledge) handed down to thee from father and grandfather: to thee these names are like abjad.
ابجد و هوز چه فاش است و پدید ** بر همه طفلان و معنی بس بعید
How plain and evident to all children are abjad and hawwaz, and (yet) the real meaning is far away (hard to reach).
پس سبو برداشت آن مرد عرب ** در سفر شد می‌‌کشیدش روز و شب
Then the Arab man took up the jug and set out to journey, carrying it along (with him) day and night.
بر سبو لرزان بد از آفات دهر ** هم کشیدش از بیابان تا به شهر2730
He was trembling for the jug, in fear of Fortune's mischiefs: all the same, he conveyed it from the desert to the city (Baghdád).
زن مصلا باز کرده از نیاز ** رب سلم ورد کرده در نماز
His wife unrolled the prayer-rug in supplication; she made (the words) Rabbi sallim (Save, O Lord) her litany in prayer,
که نگه دار آب ما را از خسان ** یا رب آن گوهر بدان دریا رسان
Crying, “Keep our water safe from scoundrels! O Lord, let that pearl arrive at that sea!
گر چه شویم آگه است و پر فن است ** لیک گوهر را هزاران دشمن است
Although my husband is shrewd and artful, yet the pearl has thousands of enemies.
خود چه باشد گوهر آب کوثر است ** قطره‌‌ای زین است کاصل گوهر است
Pearl indeed! ’Tis the water of Kawthar: ’tis a drop of this that is the origin of the pearl.”
از دعاهای زن و زاری او ** وز غم مرد و گرانباری او2735
Through the prayers and lamentation of the wife, and through the husband's anxiety and his patience under the heavy burden,
سالم از دزدان و از آسیب سنگ ** برد تا دار الخلافه بی‌‌درنگ
He bore it without delay, safe from robbers and unhurt by stones, to the seat of the Caliphate (the Caliph's palace).
دید درگاهی پر از انعامها ** اهل حاجت گستریده دامها
He saw a bountiful Court, (where) the needy had spread their nets;
دم به دم هر سوی صاحب حاجتی ** یافته ز آن در عطا و خلعتی
Everywhere, moment by moment, some petitioner gained (and carried away) from that Court a donation and robe of honour:
بهر گبر و مومن و زیبا و زشت ** همچو خورشید و مطر نی چون بهشت
’Twas like sun and rain, nay, like Paradise, for infidel and true believer and good folk and bad.
دید قومی در نظر آراسته ** قوم دیگر منتظر برخاسته2740
He beheld some people arrayed (with favour) in the sight (of the Caliph), and others who had risen to their feet (and were) waiting (to receive his commands).
خاص و عامه از سلیمان تا به مور ** زنده گشته چون جهان از نفخ صور
High and low, from Solomon to the ant, they (all) had become quickened with life, like the world at the blast of the trumpet (on the Day of Resurrection).