تا دو سه میدان دوید اندر پیش ** تا در افگند آن تعب اندر خویش
He ran after him (the length of) two or three fields, till the fatigue threw him into a sweat.
اندر آن حمله که نزدیک آمدش ** تا بدو اندر جهد دریابدش2795
At the moment when, rushing on, he had come so near to him that he might spring upon him and seize him,
دزد دیگر بانگ کردش که بیا ** تا ببینی این علامات بلا
The second thief cried out to him, “Come, that you may see these signs of calamity.
زود باش و باز گرد ای مرد کار ** تا ببینی حال اینجا زار زار
Be quick and turn back, O man of (prompt) action, that you may see (how) very pitiable (is) the state of things here.”
گفت باشد کان طرف دزدی بود ** گر نگردم زود این بر من رود
He (the householder) said (to himself), “Maybe a thief is yonder: if I do not return at once, this (fate) will befall me.
در زن و فرزند من دستی زند ** بستن این دزد سودم کی کند
He may lay hands upon my wife and child, (and in that case) how would it profit me to bind this thief (whom I am pursuing)?
این مسلمان از کرم میخواندم ** گر نگردم زود پیش آید ندم2800
This Moslem is calling me in kindness: unless I return quickly, repentance will befall (me).”
بر امید شفقت آن نیک خواه ** دزد را بگذاشت باز آمد به راه
In (confident) hope of the compassion of that well-disposed (friend), he left the thief and again set off (in another direction).
گفت ای یار نکو احوال چیست ** این فغان و بانگ تو از دست کیست
“O good friend,” said he, “what is the matter? By whose hand (violence) is this lamentation and outcry of yours (caused)?”
گفت اینک بین نشان پای دزد ** این طرف رفته ست دزد زن بمزد
“Look here,” said (the other). “See the thief's footprints! The pimping thief has gone this way. [ “Look here,” said (the other). “See the thief's footprints! The thief whose wife is for hire (who prostitutes his wife to other men) has gone this way.]
نک نشان پای دزد قلتبان ** در پی او رو بدین نقش و نشان
Look at the cuckold thief's footprints! Follow him by means of these marks and traces.”
گفت ای ابله چه میگویی مرا ** من گرفته بودم آخر مر و را2805
He answered, “O fool, what are you telling me? Why, I had (as good as) caught him,
دزد را از بانگ تو بگذاشتم ** من تو خر را آدمی پنداشتم
(But) at your cry I let the thief go. I deemed you, ass (as you are), a (reasonable) man.
این چه ژاژست و چه هرزه ای فلان ** من حقیقت یافتم چه بود نشان
What silly gabble and nonsense is this, O fellow? I (had) found the reality: what (use to me) is the clue?”
گفت من از حق نشانت میدهم ** این نشان است از حقیقت آگهم
He replied, “I am giving you a clue to the real (thing). This is the clue; I am acquainted with the reality.”
گفت طراری تو یا خود ابلهی ** بلکه تو دزدی و زین حال آگهی
He (the householder) said, “You are an artful knave or else you are a fool; nay, you are a thief and cognisant of this affair.
خصم خود را میکشیدم من کشان ** تو رهانیدی و را کاینک نشان2810
I was (on the point of) dragging my adversary along, (when) you let him escape, saying (to me), ‘Here are (his) traces.’”
تو جهت گو من برونم از جهات ** در وصال آیات کو یا بینات
You speak of (external) relations, (but) I transcend (all) relations. In union (with God) where are signs or evidences?
صنع بیند مرد محجوب از صفات ** در صفات آن است کاو گم کرد ذات
The man that is debarred (from the Essence) sees the (Divine) action (as proceeding) from the Attributes: he that has lost the Essence is in (confined to) the Attributes.
واصلان چون غرق ذاتند ای پسر ** کی کنند اندر صفات او نظر
Inasmuch as those united (with God) are absorbed in the Essence, O son, how should they look upon His Attributes?
چون که اندر قعر جو باشد سرت ** کی به رنگ آب افتد منظرت
When your head is at the bottom of the river, how will your eye fall on the colour of the water?
ور به رنگ آب باز آیی ز قعر ** پس پلاسی بستدی دادی تو شعر2815
And if you come back from the bottom to the colour of the water, then you have received a coarse woollen garment and given (fine) fur (in exchange).
طاعت عامه گناه خاصگان ** وصلت عامه حجاب خاص دان
The piety of the vulgar is sin in the elect; the unitive state of the vulgar is a veil in the elect.
مر وزیری را کند شه محتسب ** شه عدوی او بود نبود محب
If the king make a vizier a police inspector, the king is his enemy, he is not his friend.
هم گناهی کرده باشد آن وزیر ** بیسبب نبود تغیر ناگزیر
Also, that vizier will have committed some offence: necessarily change (for the worse) is not (does not occur) without cause.