آن یکی گفتش که از بد گوهری ** یاد ناوردی تو حق مادری
Some one said to him, “From evil nature you have not borne in mind what is due to motherhood.
هی تو مادر را چرا کشتی بگو ** او چه کرد آخر بگو ای زشت خو
Hey, tell (me) why you killed your mother. What did she do? Pray, tell (me), O foul villain!”
گفت کاری کرد کان عار وی است ** کشتمش کان خاک ستار وی است
He said, “She did a deed that is a disgrace to her; I killed her because that earth (her grave) is her coverer (hides her shame).”
گفت آن کس را بکش ای محتشم ** گفت پس هر روز مردی را کشم780
The other said, “O honoured sir, kill that one (who was her partner in guilt).” “Then,” he replied, “I should kill a man every day.
کشتم او را رستم از خونهای خلق ** نای او برم به است از نای خلق
I killed her, I was saved from shedding the blood of a multitude: ’tis better that I cut her throat than the throats of (so many) people.”
نفس تست آن مادر بد خاصیت ** که فساد اوست در هر ناحیت
That mother of bad character, whose wickedness is in every quarter, is your fleshly soul.
هین بکش او را که بهر آن دنی ** هر دمی قصد عزیزی میکنی
Come, kill it, for on account of that vile (creature) you are every moment assailing one who is venerable.
از وی این دنیای خوش بر تست تنگ ** از پی او با حق و با خلق جنگ
Through it this fair world is narrow (distressful) to you, for its sake (you are at) war with God and man.
نفس کشتی باز رستی ز اعتذار ** کس ترا دشمن نماند در دیار785
(If) you have killed the fleshly soul, you are delivered from (the necessity of) excusing yourself: nobody in the world remains your enemy.
گر شکال آرد کسی بر گفت ما ** از برای انبیا و اولیا
If any one should raise a difficulty about my words in regard to the prophets and saints,
کانبیا را نه که نفس کشته بود ** پس چراشان دشمنان بود و حسود
(And should say), “Had not the prophets a killed (mortified) fleshly soul? Why, then, had they enemies and enviers?”—
گوش کن تو ای طلبکار صواب ** بشنو این اشکال و شبهت را جواب
Give ear, O seeker of truth, and hear the answer to this difficulty and doubt.
دشمن خود بودهاند آن منکران ** زخم بر خود میزدند ایشان چنان
Those unbelievers were (really) enemies to themselves: they were striking at themselves such blows (as they struck).
دشمن آن باشد که قصد جان کند ** دشمن آن نبود که خود جان میکند790
An enemy is one who attempts (another's) life; he that is himself destroying his own life is not an enemy (to others).
نیست خفاشک عدوی آفتاب ** او عدوی خویش آمد در حجاب
The little bat is not an enemy to the sun: it is an enemy to itself in the veil (of its own blindness).
تابش خورشید او را میکشد ** رنج او خورشید هرگز کی کشد
The glow of the sun kills it; how should the sun ever suffer annoyance from it?
دشمن آن باشد کز او آید عذاب ** مانع آید لعل را از آفتاب
An enemy is one from whom torment proceeds, (one who) hinders the ruby from (receiving the rays of) the sun.
مانع خویشند جملهی کافران ** از شعاع جوهر پیغمبران
All the infidels hinder themselves from (receiving) the rays of the prophets' (spiritual) jewel.
کی حجاب چشم آن فردند خلق ** چشم خود را کور و کژ کردند خلق795
How should (unbelieving) people veil the eyes of that peerless one (the prophet or saint)? The people have (only) blinded and distorted their own eyes.
چون غلام هندویی کاو کین کشد ** از ستیزهی خواجه خود را میکشد
(They are) like the Indian slave who bears a grudge and kills himself to spite his master:
سر نگون میافتد از بام سرا ** تا زیانی کرده باشد خواجه را
He falls headlong from the roof of the house (in the hope) that he may have done some harm to his master.
گر شود بیمار دشمن با طبیب ** ور کند کودک عداوت با ادیب
If the sick man become an enemy to the physician, or if the boy show hostility to the teacher,
در حقیقت ره زن جان خودند ** راه عقل و جان خود را خود زدند
In truth they act as brigands against themselves: they themselves waylay their own mind and spirit.