تو ز جایی آمدی وز موطنی ** آمدن را راه دانی هیچ نی 1110
Thou camest from a certain place and abode: dost thou know the way of thy coming? Nay.
گر ندانی تا نگویی راه نیست ** زین ره بی‌راهه ما را رفتنیست
If thou knowest (it) not, (yet) beware of saying that there is no way: by this wayless way we (all) shall depart.
می‌روی در خواب شادان چپ و راست ** هیچ دانی راه آن میدان کجاست
In dreams thou wanderest happily to left and right: hast thou any knowledge where the way is that leads to that arena?
تو ببند آن چشم و خود تسلیم کن ** خویش را بینی در آن شهر کهن
Shut that (sensual) eye and give thyself up: thou wilt find thyself in the ancient City.
چشم چون بندی که صد چشم خمار ** بند چشم تست این سو از غرار
How shouldst thou shut thy (sensual) eye when in this direction a hundred inebriated (languishing) eyes are (as) a bandage on thine eye because of (thy) infatuation (with them)?
چارچشمی تو ز عشق مشتری ** بر امید مهتری و سروری 1115
From love of (having) a purchaser (admirer) thou art (looking) with four eyes (intently) in the hope of (gaining) eminence and chieftainship.
ور بخسپی مشتری بینی به خواب ** چغد بد کی خواب بیند جز خراب
And if thou fall asleep thou seest the purchaser in thy dreams: how should the ill-omened owl dream of aught but a wilderness?
مشتری خواهی بهر دم پیچ پیچ ** تو چه داری که فروشی هیچ هیچ
At every moment thou wantest a purchaser cringing (before thee): what hast thou to sell? Nothing, nothing.
گر دلت را نان بدی یا چاشتی ** از خریداران فراغت داشتی
If thy heart had any (spiritual) bread or breakfast, it would have been empty of (desire for worldly) purchasers.
قصه‌ی آن شخص کی دعوی پیغامبری می‌کرد گفتندش چه خورده‌ای کی گیج شده‌ای و یاوه می‌گویی گفت اگر چیزی یافتمی کی خوردمی نه گیج شدمی و نه یاوه گفتمی کی هر سخن نیک کی با غیر اهلش گویند یاوه گفته باشند اگر چه در آن یاوه گفتن مامورند
Story of the person who claimed to be a prophet. They said to him, “What hast thou eaten that thou hast become crazy and art talking in vain?” He replied, “If I had found anything to eat, I should not have become crazy and talked in vain”; for whenever they (the prophets and saints) speak goodly words to people unworthy to hear them, they will have talked in vain, although they are (divinely) commanded to talk thus in vain.
آن یکی می‌گفت من پیغامبرم ** از همه پیغامبران فاضلترم
A certain man was saying, “I am a prophet: I am superior to all the prophets.”
گردنش بستند و بردندش به شاه ** کین همی گوید رسولم از اله 1120
They bound his neck and took him to the king, saying, “This man says he is a prophet sent by God.”
خلق بر وی جمع چون مور و ملخ ** که چه مکرست و چه تزویر و چه فخ
The people (were) gathered round him (thick) as ants and locusts, crying, “What deceit and imposture and trap is (this)?
گر رسول آنست که آید از عدم ** ما همه پیغامبریم و محتشم
If he that comes from (the realm of) non-existence is a prophet, we all are prophets and grand (in spiritual eminence).
ما از آنجا آمدیم اینجا غریب ** تو چرا مخصوص باشی ای ادیب
We (too) came hither as strangers from that place (realm): why shouldst thou be specially endowed (with prophecy), O accomplished one?”
نه شما چون طفل خفته آمدیت ** بی‌خبر از راه وز منزل بدیت
(He replied), “Did not ye come like a sleeping child? Ye were ignorant of the way and the destination.
از منازل خفته بگذشتید و مست ** بی‌خبر از راه و از بالا و پست 1125
Ye passed through the (different) stages asleep and intoxicated, unconscious of the way and (its) ups and downs;
ما به بیداری روان گشتیم و خوش ** از ورای پنج و شش تا پنج و شش
(But) we (prophets) set out in wakefulness and well (aware) from beyond the five (senses) and the six (directions) to (this world of) the five and six,
دیده منزلها ز اصل و از اساس ** چون قلاووز آن خبیر و ره‌شناس
Having perceived (all) the stages from the source and foundation, possessed of experience and knowing the way like (skilled) guides.”
شاه را گفتند اشکنجه‌ش بکن ** تا نگوید جنس او هیچ این سخن
They said to the king, “Put him to the rack, that a person of his sort may never (again) speak such words.”
شاه دیدش بس نزار و بس ضعیف ** که به یک سیلی بمیرد آن نحیف
The king saw that he was very thin and infirm, so that such an emaciated man would die at a single blow.
کی توان او را فشردن یا زدن ** که چو شیشه گشته است او را بدن 1130
(He thought to himself), “How is it possible to torture or beat him, since his body has become as (fragile as) a glass?
لیک با او گویم از راه خوشی ** که چرا داری تو لاف سر کشی
But I will speak to him kindly and say, ‘Why dost thou boast of (this) high estate?’
که درشتی ناید اینجا هیچ کار ** هم به نرمی سر کند از غار مار
For here harshness is of no use: ’tis by gentleness that the snake puts forth its head (is induced to come forth) from the hole.”
مردمان را دور کرد از گرد وی ** شه لطیفی بود و نرمی ورد وی
He caused the people to withdraw from around him (the claimant): the king was a gracious man, and gentleness was his way.
پس نشاندش باز پرسیدش ز جا ** که کجا داری معاش و ملتجی
Then he bade him be seated, and asked him concerning his dwelling-place, saying, “Where hast thou thy means of livelihood and refuge?”