پس فقیر آن است کاو بیواسطه ست ** شعلهها را با وجودش رابطه ست835
The dervish, then, is he that has no intermediary: the flames have (direct) connexion with his being.
پس دل عالم وی است ایرا که تن ** میرسد از واسطهی این دل به فن
Therefore he is the heart of the world, because by means of this heart the body attains to (its proper) art (function).
دل نباشد، تن چه داند گفتوگو ** دل نجوید، تن چه داند جستجو
(If) the heart be not there, how can the body talk and speak? (If) the heart seek not, how can the body seek and search?
پس نظرگاه شعاع آن آهن است ** پس نظرگاه خدا دل نی تن است
Therefore the theatre of the (Divine) rays is that iron; therefore the theatre of God is the heart, not the body.
باز این دلهای جزوی چون تن است ** با دل صاحب دلی کاو معدن است
Again, these partial (individual) hearts are as the body in relation to the heart of the man of heart (the perfect saint), which is the original source.
بس مثال و شرح خواهد این کلام ** لیک ترسم تا نلغزد وهم عام840
This argument wants much illustration and exposition, but I fear lest the opinion of the vulgar should stumble (and fall into error),
تا نگردد نیکویی ما بدی ** اینکه گفتم هم نبد جز بیخودی
(And) lest my goodness should be turned (by them) to badness;—even this that I have spoken was (from) naught but selflessness.
پای کج را کفش کج بهتر بود ** مر گدا را دستگه بر در بود
The crooked shoe is better for the crooked foot; the beggar's power reaches only as far as the door.
امتحان پادشاه به آن دو غلام که نو خریده بود
How the King made trial of the two slaves whom he had recently purchased.
پادشاهی دو غلام ارزان خرید ** با یکی ز آن دو سخن گفت و شنید
A King bought two slaves cheap, and conversed with one of the twain.
یافتش زیرک دل و شیرین جواب ** از لب شکر چه زاید شکر آب
He found him quick-witted and answering sweetly: what issues from the sugar-lip? Sugar-water.
آدمی مخفی است در زیر زبان ** این زبان پرده است بر درگاه جان845
Man is concealed underneath his tongue: this tongue is the curtain over the gate of the soul.
چون که بادی پرده را در هم کشید ** سر صحن خانه شد بر ما پدید
When a gust of wind has rolled up the curtain, the secret of the interior of the house is disclosed to us,
کاندر آن خانه گهر یا گندم است ** گنج زر یا جمله مار و کژدم است
(And we see) whether in that house there are pearls or (grains of) wheat, a treasure of gold or whether all is snakes and scorpions;
یا در او گنج است و ماری بر کران ** ز انکه نبود گنج زر بیپاسبان
Or whether a treasure is there and a serpent beside it, since a treasure of gold is not without some one to keep watch.
بیتامل او سخن گفتی چنان ** کز پس پانصد تامل دیگران
Without premeditation he (that slave) would speak in such wise as others after five hundred premeditations.
گفتی اندر باطنش دریاستی ** جمله دریا گوهر گویاستی850
You would have said that in his inward part there was a sea, and that the whole sea was pearls of eloquence,
نور هر گوهر کز او تابان شدی ** حق و باطل را از او فرقان شدی
(And that) the light that shone from every pearl became a criterion for distinguishing between truth and falsehood.
نور فرقان فرق کردی بهر ما ** ذره ذره حق و باطل را جدا
(So) would the light of the Criterion (Universal Reason), (if it shone into our hearts), distinguish for us truth and falsehood and separate them mote by mote;
نور گوهر نور چشم ما شدی ** هم سؤال و هم جواب از ما بدی
The light of the (Divine) Pearl would become the light of our eyes: both the question and the answer would be (would come) from us.
چشم کژ کردی دو دیدی قرص ماه ** چون سؤال است این نظر در اشتباه
(But) you have made your eyes awry and seen the moon's disk double: this gazing in perplexity is like the question.
راست گردان چشم را در ماهتاب ** تا یکی بینی تو مه را نک جواب855
Make your eyes straight in the moonshine, so that you may see the moon as one. Lo, (that is) the answer.
فکرتت که کژ مبین نیکو نگر ** هست آن فکرت شعاع آن گهر
Your thought, (namely), "Do not see awry, look well!" is just the light and radiance of that Pearl.
هر جوابی کان ز گوش آید به دل ** چشم گفت از من شنو آن را بهل
Whenever an answer comes to the heart through the ear, the eye says, “Hear it from me; let that (answer given through the ear) alone!”
گوش دلاله ست و چشم اهل وصال ** چشم صاحب حال و گوش اصحاب قال
The ear is a go-between, while the eye is possessed of union (immediate vision); the eye has direct experience (of reality), while the ear has (only) words (doctrine).
در شنود گوش تبدیل صفات ** در عیان دیدها تبدیل ذات
In the ear's hearing there is a transformation of qualities; in the eyes' seeing there is a transformation of essence.