گر ببرد او به قهر خود سرم ** شاه بخشد شصت جان دیگرم
The king, if he behead me in his wrath, will bestow on me sixty other lives.
کار من سربازی و بی‌خویشی است ** کار شاهنشاه من سربخشی است
’Tis my business to hazard (and lose) my head and to be selfless; ’tis the business of my sovereign king to give (me) a (new) head.”
فخر آن سر که کف شاهش برد ** ننگ آن سر کو به غیری سر برد2965
Honour to the head that is severed by the King's hand! Shame on the head that betakes itself to another!
شب که شاه از قهر در قیرش کشید ** ننگ دارد از هزاران روز عید
The night which the King in his wrath covered with pitch (pitchy darkness) holds in disdain a thousand days of festival.
خود طواف آنک او شه‌بین بود ** فوق قهر و لطف و کفر و دین بود
Verily, the circumambulation performed by him who beholds the King is above wrath and grace and infidelity and religion.
زان نیامد یک عبارت در جهان ** که نهانست و نهانست و نهان
Not one word (capable of) expressing it has (ever) come into the world, for it is hidden, hidden, hidden,
زانک این اسما و الفاظ حمید ** از گلابه‌ی آدمی آمد پدید
Inasmuch as these glorious names and words were manifested from the reel (uttered from the mouth) of Adam.
علم الاسما بد آدم را امام ** لیک نه اندر لباس عین و لام2970
He (God) taught (him) the names was an Imám (an infallible authority) for Adam; but (the teaching was) not in the garb of (letters such as) ‘ayn and lám.
چون نهاد از آب و گل بر سر کلاه ** گشت آن اسمای جانی روسیاه
When he put on his head the cap of water and clay, those spiritual names became black-faced,
که نقاب حرف و دم در خود کشید ** تا شود بر آب و گل معنی پدید
For they assumed the veil of letters and breath, (only) in order that the essential reality might (gradually) be made manifest to the water and clay.
گرچه از یک وجه منطق کاشف است ** لیک از ده وجه پرده و مکنف است
Although from one point of view speech is a revealer, yet from ten points of view it is a curtain and concealer.
گفتن خلیل مر جبرئیل را علیهماالسلام چون پرسیدش کی الک حاجة خلیل جوابش داد کی اما الیک فلا
How Khalíl (Abraham) answered Gabriel, on both of whom be peace, when he asked him, "Hast thou any need?"—"As regards need of thee, no!"
من خلیل وقتم و او جبرئیل ** من نخواهم در بلا او را دلیل
“I am the Khalíl (Abraham) of the present time, and he is the Gabriel: I do not want him as a guide (to deliver me) in calamity.
او ادب ناموخت از جبریل راد ** که بپرسید از خیل حق مراد2975
He did not learn respectfulness (as he might) from noble Gabriel, who asked the Friend of God (Abraham) what was his wish,
که مرادت هست تا یاری کنم ** ورنه بگریزم سبکباری کنم
Saying, ‘Hast thou a wish?—that I may help (thee to obtain it); otherwise, I will flee and make a speedy departure.’
گفت ابراهیم نی رو از میان ** واسطه زحمت بود بعد العیان
Abraham said, ‘No; begone out of the way! After direct vision the intermediary is (only) an inconvenience.’
بهر این دنیاست مرسل رابطه ** مومنان را زانک هست او واسطه
On account of this present life the (Divine) messenger is a link for the true believers, because he is the intermediary (between them and God).
هر دل ار سامع بدی وحی نهان ** حرف و صوتی کی بدی اندر جهان
If every heart were hearing the hidden (Divine) revelation, how should there be in the world any words and sounds (to make it known)?
گرچه او محو حقست و بی‌سرست ** لیک کار من از آن نازکترست2980
Though he (the intercessor) is lost in God and headless (devoid of self existence), yet my case is more delicate than that.
کرده‌ی او کرده‌ی شاهست لیک ** پیش ضعفم بد نماینده‌ست نیک
His act is the act of the king, but to my infirmity the good (which he did) appears to be evil.”
آنچ عین لطف باشد بر عوام ** قهر شد بر نازنینان کرام
That which is the very essence of grace to the vulgar becomes wrath to the noble favourites (of God).
بس بلا و رنج می‌باید کشید ** عامه را تا فرق را توانند دید
Much tribulation and pain must the vulgar endure in order that they may be able to perceive the difference;
کین حروف واسطه ای یار غار ** پیش واصل خار باشد خار خار
For, O (my) companion in the Cave, these intermediary words are, in the sight of one united (with God), thorns, thorns, thorns.
بس بلا و رنج بایست و وقوف ** تا رهد آن روح صافی از حروف2985
Much tribulation and pain and waiting were needed in order that that pure spirit might be delivered from the (intermediary) words;
لیک بعضی زین صدا کرتر شدند ** باز بعضی صافی و برتر شدند
But some (persons) have become more deaf (than others) to this echo; some, again, have become purified and have mounted higher.
هم‌چو آب نیل آمد این بلا ** سعد را آبست و خون بر اشقیا
This tribulation is like the water of the Nile: it is water to the blessed and blood to the damned.