قصرها خود مر شهان را مانسست ** مرده را خانه و مکان گوری بسست
Truly, palaces are the place for (spiritual) kings to take their pleasure in; for him that is (spiritually) dead a grave is a sufficient house and dwelling.
انبیا را تنگ آمد این جهان ** چون شهان رفتند اندر لامکان
To the prophets this world seemed narrow: like kings, they went into (the world of) spacelessness.
مردگان را این جهان بنمود فر ** ظاهرش زفت و به معنی تنگ بر
To the (spiritually) dead this world appears splendid: its external (aspect) is large, but in reality it is narrow.
گر نبودی تنگ این افغان ز چیست ** چون دو تا شد هر که در وی بیش زیست3540
If it were not narrow, for what reason is this lamentation? Why has every one become (more) doubled (bowed with affliction) the more he lived in it?
در زمان خواب چون آزاد شد ** زان مکان بنگر که جان چون شاد شد
When during the time of sleep the spirit is freed (from this world), behold how it rejoices in that place (to which it goes)!
ظالم از ظلم طبیعت باز رست ** مرد زندانی ز فکر حبس جست
The wicked man is (then) delivered from the wickedness of his nature, the prisoner escapes from thoughts of confinement.
این زمین و آسمان بس فراخ ** سخت تنگ آمد به هنگام مناخ
This very wide earth and heaven becomes exceedingly narrow at the time of lying down (to sleep).
جسم بند آمد فراخ وسخت تنگ ** خنده‌ی او گریه فخرش جمله ننگ
It (the world) is an eye-bandage (a spell that blinds the eye): (it is) wide (in appearance), and (in reality) mighty narrow: its laughter is weeping, its glory is entirely shame.
تشبیه دنیا کی بظاهر فراخست و بمعنی تنگ و تشبیه خواب کی خلاص است ازین تنگی
Comparison of this world, which is wide in appearance and narrow in reality, (to a bathroom), and comparison (of the next world) to sleep, which is the (means of) release from this narrowness.
همچو گرمابه که تفسیده بود ** تنگ آیی جانت پخسیده شود3545
(This world is) like a bath-room which is very hot, (so that) you are distressed and your soul is melted (with anguish).
گرچه گرمابه عریضست و طویل ** زان تبش تنگ آیدت جان و کلیل
Although the bath-room is broad and long, your soul is distressed and fatigued by the heat.
تا برون نایی بنگشاید دلت ** پس چه سود آمد فراخی منزلت
Your heart does not expand (you feel no relief) till you come out: what advantage, then, is the spaciousness of the room to you?
یا که کفش تنگ پوشی ای غوی ** در بیابان فراخی می‌روی
Or (it is) as though you should put on tight shoes, O misguided one, and go into a wide desert.
آن فراخی بیابان تنگ گشت ** بر تو زندان آمد آن صحرا و دشت
The spaciousness of the desert becomes narrow (distressing); that desert and plain becomes a prison to you.
هر که دید او مر ترا از دور گفت ** کو در آن صحرا چو لاله تر شکفت3550
Whoever sees you from afar says, “He blooms like a fresh anemone (he is cheerful and happy) in that desert”;
او نداند که تو همچون ظالمان ** از برون در گلشنی جان در فغان
He does not know that you, like the wicked, are outwardly in the rose-garden, (while) your soul is in lamentation.
خواب تو آن کفش بیرون کردنست ** که زمانی جانت آزاد از تنست
Your sleep is to put those shoes off, for (then) your soul is free from the body for a while.
اولیا را خواب ملکست ای فلان ** همچو آن اصحاب کهف اندر جهان
To the saints, O reader, sleep is a kingdom, as (it was to) the Men of the Cave in this world.
خواب می‌بینند و آنجا خواب نه ** در عدم در می‌روند و باب نه
They (sleep and) dream, and no (physical) sleep is there; they go into nonexistence, and no (material) door (is there).
خانه‌ی تنگ و درون جان چنگ‌لوک ** کرد ویران تا کند قصر ملوک3555
“(The body is) a narrow house, and the soul within is cramped: He (God) ruined it in order that He might make a royal palace.
چنگ‌لوکم چون جنین اندر رحم ** نه‌مهه گشتم شد این نقلان مهم
I am cramped like the embryo in the womb: I have become nine months old: this migration has become urgent.
گر نباشد درد زه بر مادرم ** من درین زندان میان آذرم
Unless the throes of childbirth overtake my mother, (what should I do?): in this prison I am amidst the fire.
مادر طبعم ز درد مرگ خویش ** می‌کند ره تا رهد بره ز میش
My mother, namely, my nature (natural body), in consequence of its death-throes, is giving birth (to the spirit), to the end that the lamb (the spirit) may be released from the ewe,
تا چرد آن بره در صحرای سبز ** هین رحم بگشا که گشت این بره گبز
So that the lamb may graze in the green fields. Come, open thy womb, for this lamb has grown big.”
درد زه گر رنج آبستان بود ** بر جنین اشکستن زندان بود3560
If the pain of childbirth is grievous to the pregnant (woman), it is, for the embryo, the breaking of (its) prison.
حامله گریان ز زه کاین المناص ** و آن جنین خندان که پیش آمد خلاص
The pregnant woman weeps at childbirth, saying, “Where is the refuge?”—but the embryo laughs, saying, “Deliverance has appeared.”