ده منادی گر بلند آوازیان ** کرد و ترک و رومیان و تازیان
(There were) ten loud-voiced criers, Turks and Kurds and Anatolians and Arabs, (proclaiming),
مفلس است این و ندارد هیچ چیز ** قرض تا ندهد کس او را یک پشیز
“This man is insolvent and has nothing: let no one lend him a single brass farthing;
ظاهر و باطن ندارد حبهای ** مفلسی قلبی دغایی دبهای665
He does not possess a single mite, patent or latent: he is a bankrupt, a piece of falsehood, a cunning knave, an oil-bag.
هان و هان با او حریفی کم کنید ** چون که کاو آرد گره محکم کنید
Beware and beware! Have no dealings with him; when he brings the ox (to sell), make fast the knot.
ور به حکم آرید این پژمرده را ** من نخواهم کرد زندان مرده را
And if ye bring this decayed fellow to judgement, I will not put a corpse in prison.
خوش دم است او و گلویش بس فراخ ** با شعار نو دثار شاخ شاخ
He is fair-spoken and his throat is very wide; (he is clad) with a new inner garment (of plausibility) and a tattered outer garment.
گر بپوشد بهر مکر آن جامه را ** عاریه است او و فریبد عامه را
If he puts on that (inner) garment for the purpose of deceiving, it is borrowed in order that he may beguile the common folk.”
حرف حکمت بر زبان ناحکیم ** حلههای عاریت دان ای سلیم670
Know, O simple man, that words of wisdom on the tongue of the unwise are (as) borrowed robes.
گر چه دزدی حلهای پوشیده است ** دست تو چون گیرد آن ببریده دست
Although a thief has put on a (fine) robe, how should he whose hand is cut off take your hand (lend you a helping hand)?
چون شبانه از شتر آمد به زیر ** کرد گفتش منزلم دور است و دیر
When at nightfall he (the insolvent) came down from the camel, the Kurd said to him, “My abode is far (from here) and a long way off.
بر نشستی اشترم را از پگاه ** جو رها کردم کم از اخراج کاه
You have ridden on my camel since early morning: I (will) let the barley go, (but I will not take) less than the cost of (some) straw.”
گفت تا اکنون چه میکردیم پس ** هوش تو کو، نیست اندر خانه کس
"What, then," he rejoined, "have we been doing until now? Where are your wits? Is nobody at home?
طبل افلاسم به چرخ سابعه ** رفت و تو نشنیدهای بد واقعه675
The (sound of the) drum (giving notice) of my insolvency reached the Seventh Heaven, and you have not heard the bad news!
گوش تو پر بوده است از طمع خام ** پس طمع کر میکند کور ای غلام
Your ear has been filled with foolish hope; (such) hope, then, makes (one) deaf (and) blind, my lad.”
تا کلوخ و سنگ بشنید این بیان ** مفلس است و مفلس است این قلتبان
Even clods and stones heard this advertisement—“he is insolvent, he is insolvent, this scoundrel.”
تا به شب گفتند و در صاحب شتر ** بر نزد کاو از طمع پر بود پر
They (the criers) said it till nightfall, and it made no impression on the owner of the camel, because he was full of (idle) hope, full.
هست بر سمع و بصر مهر خدا ** در حجب بس صورت است و بس صدا
God's seal lies upon the hearing and sight: within the veils is many a form and many a sound.
آن چه او خواهد رساند آن به چشم ** از جمال و از کمال و از کرشم680
He communicates to the eye that which He wills of beauty and of perfection and of amorous looks;
و انچه او خواهد رساند آن به گوش ** از سماع و از بشارت وز خروش
And He communicates to the ear that which He wills of music and glad tidings and cries (of rapture).
کون پر چاره ست و هیچت چاره نی ** تا که نگشاید خدایت روزنی
The world is full of remedies, but you have no remedy till God opens a window for you.
گر چه تو هستی کنون غافل از آن ** وقت حاجت حق کند آن را عیان
Though you are unaware of that (remedy) just now, God will make it plain in the hour of need.
گفت پیغمبر که یزدان مجید ** از پی هر درد درمان آفرید
The Prophet said that the glorious God has created a remedy for every pain;
لیک ز آن درمان نبینی رنگ و بو ** بهر درد خویش بیفرمان او685
But of that remedy for your pain you will not see (even) the colour or scent without His command.
چشم را ای چاره جو در لامکان ** هین بنه چون چشم کشته سوی جان
Come, O you that seek the remedy, set your eye on non-spatiality, as the eye of one (about to be) killed (turns) towards the spirit.
این جهان از بیجهت پیدا شده ست ** که ز بیجایی جهان را جا شده ست
This (spatial) world has been produced from that which is without spatial relations, for the world has received (the relation of) place from placelessness.