عادت خود را بگردانم به وقت ** این غبار از پیش بنشانم به وقت
I alter My custom at the time (I choose): at the time (I will) I lay the dust (that rises) in front.
بحر را گویم که هین پر نار شو ** گویم آتش را که رو گلزار شو
I say to the sea, ‘Hark, be full of fire!’ I say to the fire, ‘Go, be a rose-garden!’
کوه را گویم سبک شو همچو پشم ** چرخ را گویم فرو در پیش چشم
I say to the mountain, ‘Be light as wool!’ I say to heaven, ‘Be rent asunder before the eye!’
گویم ای خورشید مقرون شو به ماه ** هر دو را سازم چو دو ابر سیاه1630
I say, ‘O sun, be joined to the moon!’ I make them both like two black clouds.
چشمهی خورشید را سازیم خشک ** چشمهی خون را به فن سازیم مشک
We make dry the fountain of the sun: by Our art We turn into musk the fountain of blood.”
آفتاب و مه چو دو گاو سیاه ** یوغ بر گردن ببنددشان اله
Sun and moon (shall be) like two black oxen: God will fasten a yoke upon their necks.
انکار فلسفی بر قرائت إن أصبح ماؤکم غورا
How a philosopher showed disbelief at the recitation of (the text), “if your water shall have sunk into the ground.”
مقریی میخواند از روی کتاب ** ماؤکم غورا ز چشمه بندم آب
A teacher of Qur’án-recitation was reading from the page of the Book, “(if) your water (shall have) sunk into the ground: (that is, if) I stop the water from (reaching) the spring,
آب را در غورها پنهان کنم ** چشمهها را خشک و خشکستان کنم
And hide the water in the depths, and make the springs dry and a place of drought,
آب را در چشمه کی آرد دگر ** جز من بیمثل با فضل و خطر1635
Who shall bring the water to the spring again except Me who have no like, the Gracious, the Glorious?”
فلسفی منطقی مستهان ** میگذشت از سوی مکتب آن زمان
A contemptible philosopher and logician was passing beside the school at that moment.
چون که بشنید آیت او از ناپسند ** گفت آریم آب را ما با کلند
When he heard the verse (of the Qur’án), he said in disapproval, “We bring the water (back) with a mattock;
ما بزخم بیل و تیزی تبر ** آب را آریم از پستی ز بر
With strokes of the spade and (with) the sharpness of the axe we bring the water up from below.”
شب بخفت و دید او یک شیر مرد ** زد طپانچه هر دو چشمش کور کرد
At night he fell asleep and saw (in dream) a lion-hearted man (who) gave (him) a blow on the face and blinded both his eyes,
گفت زین دو چشمهی چشم ای شقی ** با تبر نوری بر آر ار صادقی1640
And said, “O wretch, if you are speaking the truth, bring up some light with an axe from these two springs of vision.”
روز بر جست و دو چشم کور دید ** نور فایض از دو چشمش ناپدید
At (dawn of) day he jumped up and found (he had) two blind eyes: from both his eyes the overflowing light had vanished.
گر بنالیدی و مستغفر شدی ** نور رفته از کرم ظاهر شدی
If he had moaned and asked pardon (of God), the departed light would have appeared (again) through (God's) kindness;
لیک استغفار هم در دست نیست ** ذوق توبه نقل هر سر مست نیست
But (the power of) asking pardon, also, is not in (our) hands: the savour of repentance is not the dessert of every inebriate.
زشتی اعمال و شومی جحود ** راه توبه بر دل او بسته بود
The wickedness of (his) actions and the disastrousness of (his) denial (of the Truth) had barred the way of repentance to his heart.
دل به سختی همچو روی سنگ گشت ** چون شکافد توبه آن را بهر کشت1645
His heart became in hardness as the face of a rock: how should repentance cleave it for sowing?
چون شعیبی کو که تا او را دعا ** بهر کشتن خاک سازد کوه را
Where is one like Shu‘ayb, that by prayer he may make the mountain earth (fit) for sowing?
از نیاز و اعتقاد آن خلیل ** گشت ممکن امر صعب و مستحیل
Through the supplication and (firm) belief of that Friend (Abraham) the thing that was hard and impossible became possible.
یا به دریوزهی مقوقس از رسول ** سنگلاخی مزرعی شد با اصول
Or, (to give another example), through the Muqawqis' begging the Prophet a stony ground became a goodly cornfield.
همچنین بر عکس آن انکار مرد ** مس کند زر را و صلحی را نبرد
So, contrariwise, a man's disbelief turns gold into copper and peace into war.
کهربای مسخ آمد این دغا ** خاک قابل را کند سنگ و حصا1650
This falseness draws after it an evil transformation: it turns ground capable (of tillage) into stones and pebbles.
هر دلی را سجده هم دستور نیست ** مزد رحمت قسم هر مزدور نیست
Nor is it granted to every heart to fall down in prayer: the wages of (Divine) mercy are not the (allotted) portion of every hireling.