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گر خطا گفتیم اصلاحش تو کن ** مصلحی تو ای تو سلطان سخن
- If we have spoken faultily, do Thou correct it: Thou art the Corrector, O Thou (who art the) Sultan of speech.
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کیمیا داری که تبدیلش کنی ** گر چه جوی خون بود نیلش کنی
- Thou hast the alchemy whereby Thou mayst transmute it, and though it be a river of blood, mayst make it a Nile.
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این چنین میناگریها کار تست ** این چنین اکسیرها اسرار تست 695
- Such alchemical operations are Thy work, such elixirs are Thy secrets.
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آب را و خاک را بر هم زدی ** ز آب و گل نقش تن آدم زدی
- Thou didst beat water and earth together: from water and clay Thou didst mould the body of Adam.
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نسبتش دادی و جفت و خال و عم ** با هزار اندیشه و شادی و غم
- Thou gavest him (Man) lineage and wife and uncles, maternal and paternal, with a thousand thoughts and joys and griefs.
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باز بعضی را رهایی دادهای ** زین غم و شادی جدایی دادهای
- Again, to some Thou hast given deliverance: Thou hast parted them from this grief and joy;
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بردهای از خویش و پیوند و سرشت ** کردهای در چشم او هر خوب زشت
- Thou hast borne them away from kindred and relatives and (their own) nature, Thou hast made every fair thing foul in his (such a one's) eyes.
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هر چه محسوس است او رد میکند ** و انچه ناپیداست مسند میکند 700
- He spurns all that is perceived by the senses, and leans for support on that which is invisible.
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عشق او پیدا و معشوقش نهان ** یار بیرون فتنهی او در جهان
- His love is manifest and his Beloved is hidden: the Friend is outside (of the world), (but) His fascination is in the world.
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این رها کن عشقهای صورتی ** نیست بر صورت نه بر روی ستی
- Give up this (belief). Loves (felt) for what is endued with form have not as their object the (outward) form or the lady's face.
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آن چه معشوق است صورت نیست آن ** خواه عشق این جهان خواه آن جهان
- That which is the object of love is not the form, whether it be love for (the things of) this world or yonder world.
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آن چه بر صورت تو عاشق گشتهای ** چون برون شد جان چرایش هشتهای
- That which you have come to love for its form—why have you abandoned it after the spirit has fled?
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صورتش بر جاست این سیری ز چیست ** عاشقا واجو که معشوق تو کیست 705
- Its form is still there: whence (then) this satiety (disgust)? O lover, inquire who your beloved (really) is.
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آن چه محسوس است اگر معشوقه است ** عاشق استی هر که او را حس هست
- If the beloved is that which the senses perceive, every one that has senses would be in love (with it).
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چون وفا آن عشق افزون میکند ** کی وفا صورت دگرگون میکند
- Inasmuch as constancy is increased by that (spiritual) love, how is constancy altered (impaired) by the (decay of the material) form?
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پرتو خورشید بر دیوار تافت ** تابش عاریتی دیوار یافت
- The sunbeam shone upon the wall: the wall received a borrowed splendour.
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بر کلوخی دل چه بندی ای سلیم ** واطلب اصلی که تابد او مقیم
- Why set your heart on a piece of turf, O simple man? Seek out the source which shines perpetually.
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ای که تو هم عاشقی بر عقل خویش ** خویش بر صورت پرستان دیده بیش 710
- You who are in love with your intellect, deeming yourself superior to worshippers of form,
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پرتو عقل است آن بر حس تو ** عاریت میدان ذهب بر مس تو
- That (intellect) is a beam of (Universal) Intellect (cast) on your sense-perception; regard it as borrowed gold on your copper.
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چون زر اندود است خوبی در بشر ** ور نه چون شد شاهد تو پیر خر
- Beauty in humankind is like gilding; else, how did your sweetheart become (as ugly as) an old ass?
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چون فرشته بود همچون دیو شد ** کان ملاحت اندر او عاریه بد
- She was like an angel, she became like a demon, for that loveliness in her was a borrowed (transient) thing.
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اندک اندک میستانند آن جمال ** اندک اندک خشک میگردد نهال
- Little by little they take away that beauty: little by little the sapling withers.
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رو نعمره ننکسه بخوان ** دل طلب کن دل منه بر استخوان 715
- Go, recite (the text) to whom so We grant length of days, him We cause to decline. Seek the heart (spirit), set not thy heart on bones;
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کان جمال دل جمال باقی است ** دولتش از آب حیوان ساقی است
- For that beauty of the heart is the lasting beauty: its fortune gives to drink of the Water of Life.
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خود هم او آب است و هم ساقی و مست ** هر سه یک شد چون طلسم تو شکست
- Truly it is both the water and the giver of drink and the drunken: all three become one when your talisman is shattered.