گفت راه اوسط ار چه حکمت است ** لیک اوسط نیز هم با نسبت است
He said, “Although the middle path is (the way of) wisdom, yet the middle path too is relative.
آب جو نسبت به اشتر هست کم ** لیک باشد موش را آن همچو یم
Relatively to a camel, the water in the stream is little, but to a mouse it is like the ocean.
هر که را باشد وظیفه چار نان ** دو خورد یا سه خورد هست اوسط آن
If any one has an allowance of four loaves and eats two or three, that is the mean;
ور خورد هر چار دور از اوسط است ** او اسیر حرص مانند بط است
But if he eat all the four, it is far from the mean: he is in bondage to greed, like a duck.
هر که او را اشتها ده نان بود ** شش خورد میدان که اوسط آن بود3535
If one has appetite for ten loaves and eats six, know that that is the mean.
چون مرا پنجاه نان هست اشتهی ** مر ترا شش گرده هم دستیم نی
When I have appetite for fifty loaves, and you for (no more than) six scones, we are not equivalent.
تو به ده رکعت نماز آیی ملول ** من به پانصد در نیایم در نحول
You may be tired by ten rak‘as (of prayer), I may not be worn thin by five hundred.
آن یکی تا کعبه حافی میرود ** و آن یکی تا مسجد از خود میشود
One goes bare-foot (all the way) to the Ka‘ba, and one becomes beside himself (with exhaustion in going) as far as the mosque.
آن یکی در پاکبازی جان بداد ** وین یکی جان کند تا یک نان بداد
One in utter self-devotion gives his life, one is agonised at giving a single loaf.
این وسط در با نهایت میرود ** که مرا آن را اول و آخر بود3540
This mean belongs to (the realm of) the finite, for that (finite) has a beginning and end.
اول و آخر بباید تا در آن ** در تصور گنجد اوسط یا میان
A beginning and end are necessary in order that the mean or middle (point) between them may be conceived in imagination.
بینهایت چون ندارد دو طرف ** کی بود او را میانه منصرف
Inasmuch as the infinite has not (these) two limits, how should the mean be applicable to it?
اول و آخر نشانش کس نداد ** گفت لو کان له البحر مداد
No one has shown it to have beginning or end. He (God) said, ‘If the sea were to become ink for it (the Word of God)…’
هفت دریا گر شود کلی مداد ** نیست مر پایان شدن را هیچ امید
If the Seven Seas should become entirely ink, (still) there is no hope of coming to an end.
باغ و بیشه گر بود یک سر قلم ** زین سخن هرگز نگردد هیچ کم3545
If orchards and forests should become pens altogether, there would never be any decrease in this Word.
آن همه حبر و قلم فانی شود ** وین حدیث بیعدد باقی بود
All that ink and (all those) pens pass away, and this numberless Word is everlasting.
حالت من خواب را ماند گهی ** خواب پندارد مر آن را گمرهی
At times my state resembles sleep: a misguided person may think it is sleep.
چشم من خفته دلم بیدار دان ** شکل بیکار مرا بر کار دان
Know that my eyes are asleep, (but) my heart is awake: know that my (seemingly) inactive form is (really) in action.
گفت پیغمبر که عینای تنام ** لا ینام قلبی عن رب الأنام
The Prophet said, ‘My eyes sleep, (but) my heart is not asleep to the Lord of created beings.’
چشم تو بیدار و دل خفته به خواب ** چشم من خفته دلم در فتح باب3550
Your eyes are awake, and your heart is sunk in slumber; my eyes are asleep, (but) my heart is in (contemplation of) the opening of the door (of Divine grace).
مر دلم را پنج حس دیگر است ** حس دل را هر دو عالم منظر است
My heart hath five senses other (than the physical): both the worlds (external and spiritual) are the stage (theatre) for the senses of the heart.
تو ز ضعف خود مکن در من نگاه ** بر تو شب بر من همان شب چاشتگاه
Do not regard me from (the standpoint of) your infirmity: to you ’tis night, to me that same night is morningtide.
بر تو زندان بر من آن زندان چو باغ ** عین مشغولی مرا گشته فراغ
To you ’tis prison, to me that prison is like a garden: to me the most absolute state of occupation (with the world) has become (a state of spiritual) freedom.
پای تو در گل مرا گل گشته گل ** مر ترا ماتم مرا سور و دهل
Your feet are in the mud; to me the mud has become roses. You have mourning; I have feasting and drums.
در زمینم با تو ساکن در محل ** میدوم بر چرخ هفتم چون زحل3555
(Whilst) I am dwelling with you in some place on the earth, I am coursing over the seventh sphere (of Heaven), like Saturn.