گفت ضعف معده هم از پیری است ** گفت وقت دم مرا دم گیری است
The doctor replied, “Weakness of stomach also is (the result) of age.” Said he, “When I breathe, respiration is hard for me.”
گفت آری انقطاع دم بود ** چون رسد پیری دو صد علت شود
“Yes,” he said, “it is asthma*; when old age arrives, two hundred diseases come on.”
گفت ای احمق بر این بر دوختی ** از طبیبی تو همین آموختی
“O fool,” he exclaimed, “you have stuck at this: this is all that you have learned of medicine.
ای مدمغ عقلت این دانش نداد ** که خدا هر رنج را درمان نهاد3095
O crack-brained man, your intellect has not given you this knowledge, that God hath appointed a remedy for every pain.
تو خر احمق ز اندک مایگی ** بر زمین ماندی ز کوتهپایگی
You, stupid ass, from poorness of ability have remained (fallen) on the ground for want of a sufficient foothold.”
پس طبیبش گفت ای عمر تو شصت ** این غضب وین خشم هم از پیری است
Then the doctor said to him, “O sexagenarian, this anger and this choler are also from old age.
چون همه اوصاف و اجزا شد نحیف ** خویشتنداری و صبرت شد ضعیف
Since all the functions and parts (of your body) are atrophied, your self-control and patience have become weak.”
بر نتابد دو سخن زو هی کند ** تاب یک جرعه ندارد قی کند
He (an old man) cannot endure two words, he cries out thereat; he cannot retain one draught, he vomits (it)—
جز مگر پیری که از حق است مست ** در درون او حیات طیبه است3100
Except, to be sure, the Ancient (Pír) that is drunken with God, and in whose inward being there is “a goodly life.”
از برون پیر است و در باطن صبی ** خود چه چیز است آن ولی و آن نبی
Outwardly he is old, but within he is young. What thing, verily, is he? He is the saint and the prophet.
گر نه پیدایند پیش نیک و بد ** چیست با ایشان خسان را این حسد
If they are not manifest to the good and the evil (alike), what is this envy which the worthless bear against them?
ور نمیدانندشان علم الیقین ** چیست این بغض و حیل سازی و کین
And if they do not know them with certain knowledge, what is this hatred and hatching of plots and enmity?
ور نمیدانند بعث و رستخیز ** چون زنندی خویش بر شمشیر تیز
And (again), if they know the retribution (which shall take place) at the Resurrection and rising from the dead, how should they dash themselves against a sharp sword?
بر تو میخندد مبین او را چنان ** صد قیامت در درون استش نهان3105
He (the prophet or saint) smiles upon you, (but) do not deem him to be such (as he appears): in his inward consciousness are hidden a hundred Resurrections.
دوزخ و جنت همه اجزای اوست ** هر چه اندیشی تو او بالای اوست
Hell and Paradise are entirely parts of him: he is beyond any thought that you may conceive (of him).
هر چه اندیشی پذیرای فناست ** آن که در اندیشه ناید آن خداست
All that you may think of is liable to pass away; he that comes not into thought is God.
بر در این خانه گستاخی ز چیست ** گر همیدانند کاندر خانه کیست
Wherefore (then do they behave with) presumption at the door of this house, if they know who is within the house?
ابلهان تعظیم مسجد میکنند ** در جفای اهل دل جد میکنند
Fools venerate the mosque and exert themselves in maltreating them that have the heart (in which God dwells).
آن مجاز است این حقیقت ای خران ** نیست مسجد جز درون سروران3110
That (mosque) is phenomenal, this (heart) is real, O asses! The (true) mosque is naught but the hearts of the (spiritual) captains.
مسجدی کان اندرون اولیاست ** سجدهگاه جمله است آن جا خداست
The mosque that is the inward (consciousness) of the saints is the place of worship for all: God is there.
تا دل مرد خدا نامد به درد ** هیچ قومی را خدا رسوا نکرد
Until the heart of the man of God was grieved, never did God put any generation to shame.
قصد جنگ انبیا میداشتند ** جسم دیدند آدمی پنداشتند
They were going to make war on the prophets: they saw the body (of the prophet), they supposed he was a man.
در تو هست اخلاق آن پیشینیان ** چون نمیترسی که تو باشی همان
In thee are the moral natures of those peoples of yore: how art not thou afraid lest thou be the same (as they)?
آن نشانیها همه چون در تو هست ** چون تو زیشانی کجا خواهی برست3115
Forasmuch as all those marks are in thee, and thou art (one) of them, how wilt thou be saved?
قصهی جوحی و آن کودک که پیش جنازهی پدر خویش نوحه میکرد
The story of Júhí and the child who cried lamentably beside his father's bier.
کودکی در پیش تابوت پدر ** زار مینالید و بر میکوفت سر
A child was crying bitterly and beating his head beside his father's coffin,