در شریعت نیست دستوری که ما ** کمتر از تو شه کنیم و پیشوا
Permission is not (given) in the Law, that we should appoint one less than thee as (our) prince and leader.’
زین ضرورت گیج و دیوانه شدم ** لیک در باطن همانم که بدم
By this necessity I was made distraught and mad (in appearance), but inwardly I am just the same as I was.
عقل من گنج است و من ویرانهام ** گنج اگر پیدا کنم دیوانهام2425
My intelligence is the (hidden) treasure, and I am the ruin (which covers it); if I display the treasure, (then) I am mad (indeed).
اوست دیوانه که دیوانه نشد ** این عسس را دید و در خانه نشد
The (real) madman is he that has not gone mad, he that has seen this night patrol and has not gone home.
دانش من جوهر آمد نه عرض ** این بهایی نیست بهر هر غرض
My knowledge is substantial, not accidental; and this precious (thing) is not for (the purpose of gaining) every (worldly) interest.
کان قندم نیستان شکرم ** هم ز من میروید و من میخورم
I am a mine of candy, I am a plantation of sugar-canes: it is growing from me, and at the same time I am eating (of it).
علم تقلیدی و تعلیمی است آن ** کز نفورش مستمع دارد فغان
Knowledge is conventional and acquired (not real), when he (its owner) laments because the hearer is averse to (hearing) it.
چون پی دانه نه بهر روشنی است ** همچو طالب علم دنیای دنی است2430
Since it is (learned) as a bait (for popularity), not for the sake of (spiritual) enlightenment, he (the seeker of religious knowledge) is just as (bad) as the seeker of vile worldly knowledge;
طالب علم است بهر عام و خاص ** نی که تا یابد از این عالم خلاص
(For) he is seeking knowledge on account of the vulgar and the noble, not in order that he may win release from this world.
همچو موشی هر طرف سوراخ کرد ** چون که نورش راند از در گشت سرد
Like a mouse, he has burrowed in every direction, since the light drove him (back) from the door (the entrance to the hole) and said, ‘Away!’
چون که سوی دشت و نورش ره نبود ** هم در آن ظلمات جهدی مینمود
Inasmuch as he had no way (of getting out) to the open country and the light, he continued to make (such) an exertion even in that darkness.
گر خدایش پر دهد پر خرد ** برهد از موشی و چون مرغان پرد
If God give him wings, the wings of Wisdom, he will escape from mousiness and will fly like the birds;
ور نجوید پر بماند زیر خاک ** ناامید از رفتن راه سماک2435
But if he seek not wings, he will remain underground with no hope of traversing the path to Simák.
علم گفتاری که آن بیجان بود ** عاشق روی خریداران بود
Dialectic knowledge, which is soulless, is in love with (eager for) the countenance of customers;
گر چه باشد وقت بحث علم زفت ** چون خریدارش نباشد مرد و رفت
(But) though it is robust at the time of disputation, it is dead and gone when it has no customer.
مشتری من خدای است او مرا ** میکشد بالا که الله اشتری
My purchaser is God: He is drawing me aloft, for God hath purchased.
خونبهای من جمال ذو الجلال ** خونبهای خود خورم کسب حلال
My bloodwit (the reward of my self-sacrifice) is the beauty of the Glorious One: I enjoy my bloodwit (as) lawful earnings.
این خریداران مفلس را بهل ** چه خریداری کند یک مشت گل2440
Abandon these insolvent customers: what purchase can be made by a handful of (worthless) clay?
گل مخور گل را مخر گل را مجو ** ز انکه گل خوار است دایم زرد رو
Do not eat clay, do not buy clay, do not seek clay, because the eater of clay is always pale-faced.
دل بخور تا دایما باشی جوان ** از تجلی چهرهات چون ارغوان
Eat your heart (in love of God), that you may be young always, (and that) your visage (may be rosy) with Divine illumination, like the arghawán.”
یا رب این بخشش نه حد کار ماست ** لطف تو لطف خفی را خود سزاست
O Lord, this gift is not (within) the compass of our work (achievement): verily, (the gift of) Thy grace is (not according to our work, but) according to Thy mysterious grace.
دست گیر از دست ما ما را بخر ** پرده را بردار و پردهی ما مدر
Take our hands (help us); buy (redeem) us from our hands (self-existence); lift the veil (between Thee and us), and do not tear our veil (do not expose us to shame).
باز خر ما را از این نفس پلید ** کاردش تا استخوان ما رسید2445
Redeem us from this filthy self (nafs): its knife has reached our bones.
از چو ما بیچارگان این بند سخت ** کی گشاید ای شه بیتاج و تخت
Who will loose these strong chains from helpless ones like us, O king uncrowned and unthroned?
این چنین قفل گران را ای ودود ** کی تواند جز که فضل تو گشود
Who except (Thee in) Thy bounty, O Loving One, can loose such a heavy lock?