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2
984-1008

  • گفت مخفی داشته ست آن را خرد ** تا بود غیب این جهان نیک و بد
  • “(Divine) Wisdom,” replied the slave, “has kept it concealed, in order that this world of good and evil may be a mystery,

  • ز انکه گر پیدا شدی اشکال فکر ** کافر و مومن نگفتی جز که ذکر 985
  • Because, if the (substantial) forms of thought were to become manifest, infidel and believer (alike) would speak naught but praise (of God).

  • پس عیان بودی نه غیب ای شاه این ** نقش دین و کفر بودی بر جبین‏
  • Then, were this clearly seen, O King, not hidden, and were the mark of religion or infidelity (visible) on the forehead,

  • کی درین عالم بت و بتگر بدی ** چون کسی را زهره‏ی تسخر بدی‏
  • How would there be idol and idolater in this world? How would any one have the stomach to mock (at holy things)?

  • پس قیامت بودی این دنیای ما ** در قیامت کی کند جرم و خطا
  • Then this world of ours would be (like) the Resurrection: who commits sin and wrong at the Resurrection?”

  • گفت شه پوشید حق پاداش بد ** لیک از عامه نه از خاصان خود
  • The King said, “God has veiled the retribution of evil, but (only) from the vulgar, not from His own elect.

  • گر به دامی افکنم من یک امیر ** از امیران خفیه دارم نه از وزیر 990
  • If I entrap one Amír, I keep it hidden from the (other) Amírs, (but) not from the Vizier.

  • حق به من بنمود پس پاداش کار ** وز صورهای عملها صد هزار
  • God, then, has shown to me the retribution of work and myriads of the (substantial) forms of actions.

  • تو نشانی ده که من دانم تمام ** ماه را بر من نمی‏پوشد غمام‏
  • Give a sign (outwardly), for I know all: the cloud does not veil the moon from me.”

  • گفت پس از گفت من مقصود چیست ** چون تو می‏دانی که آن چه بود چیست‏
  • The slave said, “Then what is the object of my speaking, since thou knowest what is (the real nature of) that which has been?”

  • گفت شه حکمت در اظهار جهان ** آن که دانسته برون آید عیان‏
  • The King said, “The wisdom (of God) in making the world manifest (was) that the (thing) known should come forth (to be seen) plainly.

  • آن چه می‏دانست تا پیدا نکرد ** بر جهان ننهاد رنج طلق و درد 995
  • Until He made visible that which He knew, He did not lay upon the world the pain of parturition and the throes (thereof).

  • یک زمان بی‏کار نتوانی نشست ** تا بدی یا نیکیی از تو نجست‏
  • You cannot sit inactive for one moment: (you cannot rest) till some badness or goodness has issued from you.

  • این تقاضاهای کار از بهر آن ** شد موکل تا شود سرت عیان‏
  • These demands (cravings) for action were appointed in order that your inward consciousness should come clearly into (outward) view.

  • پس کلابه‏ی تن کجا ساکن شود ** چون سر رشته‏ی ضمیرش می‏کشد
  • How, then, should the reel, which is the body, become still, when the thread's end, which is the mind, is pulling it?

  • تاسه‏ی تو شد نشان آن کشش ** بر تو بی‏کاری بود چون جان کنش‏
  • The sign of that pulling is your anguish: to be inactive is to you like the death-agony.

  • این جهان و آن جهان زاید ابد ** هر سبب مادر اثر از وی ولد 1000
  • This world and that world are for ever giving birth: every cause is a mother, the effect is the child (born) from it.

  • چون اثر زایید آن هم شد سبب ** تا بزاید او اثرهای عجب‏
  • When the effect was born, that too became a cause, so that it might give birth to wondrous effects.

  • این سببها نسل بر نسل است لیک ** دیده‏ای باید منور نیک نیک‏
  • These causes are generation on generation, but it needs a very well illumined eye (to see all the links in their chain).”

  • شاه با او در سخن اینجا رسید ** یا بدید از وی نشانی یا ندید
  • The King, in conversation with him, arrived at this point: he either saw or did not see a sign.

  • گر بدید آن شاه جویا دور نیست ** لیک ما را ذکر آن دستور نیست‏
  • If that searching King saw (such a sign), ’tis not strange; but we are not permitted to mention it.

  • چون ز گرمابه بیامد آن غلام ** سوی خویشش خواند آن شاه و همام‏ 1005
  • When that (other) slave came from the warm bath, that King and lofty personage called him to his presence,

  • گفت صحا لک نعیم دایم ** بس لطیفی و ظریف و خوب رو
  • (And) said, “Health (to you)! Lasting happiness be yours! You are very fine and elegant and good-looking.

  • ای دریغا گر نبودی در تو آن ** که همی‏گوید برای تو فلان‏
  • Oh, alas! If there were not in you that which so-and-so says about you,

  • شاد گشتی هر که رویت دیده‏یی ** دیدنت ملک جهان ارزیدیی‏
  • Whoever beheld your face would become glad; the sight of you would be worth the empire of the world.”