هر که سازد زین جهان آب حیات ** زوترش از دیگران آید ممات
Whosoever makes the Water of Life to consist of (the pleasures of) this world, death comes to him sooner than to the others.
دیده‌ی دل کو به گردون بنگریست ** دید که اینجا هر دمی میناگریست
The eye of the heart (the inward eye) that contemplated the (spiritual) firmament perceived that here (in the sensible world) is a continual alchemy.
قلب اعیانست و اکسیری محیط ** ایتلاف خرقه‌ی تن بی‌مخیط
The harmonious cohesion of the patched garment, (which is) the body, without being stitched (together), is (owing to) the transmutation of essences and (to) an all-embracing elixir.
تو از آن روزی که در هست آمدی ** آتشی یا بادی یا خاکی بدی
From the day when thou camest into existence, thou wert fire or air or earth.
گر بر آن حالت ترا بودی بقا ** کی رسیدی مر ترا این ارتقا 790
If thou hadst remained in that condition, how should this (present) height have been reached by thee?
از مبدل هستی اول نماند ** هستی بهتر به جای آن نشاند
The Transmuter did not leave thee in thy first (state of) existence: He established a better (state of) existence in the place of that (former one);
هم‌چنین تا صد هزاران هستها ** بعد یکدیگر دوم به ز ابتدا
And so on till (He gave thee) a hundred thousand states of existence, one after the other, the second (always) better than the beginning.
از مبدل بین وسایط را بمان ** کز وسایط دور گردی ز اصل آن
Regard (all change as derived) from the Transmuter, leave (ignore) the intermediaries, for by (regarding) the intermediaries thou wilt be come far from their Origin.
واسطه هر جا فزون شد وصل جست ** واسطه کم ذوق وصل افزونترست
Wherever the intermediaries increase, union (with the Origin) is removed: (in proportion as) the intermediaries are less, the delight of (attaining to) union is greater.
از سبب‌دانی شود کم حیرتت ** حیرت تو ره دهد در حضرتت 795
By knowing the intermediaries thy bewilderment (in God) is diminished: thy bewilderment gives thee admission to the (Divine) Presence.
این بقاها از فناها یافتی ** از فنااش رو چرا برتافتی
Thou hast gained these (successive) lives from (successive) deaths: why hast thou averted thy face from dying in Him?
زان فناها چه زیان بودت که تا ** بر بقا چفسیده‌ای ای نافقا
What loss was thine (what loss didst thou suffer) from those deaths, that thou hast clung (so tenaciously) to (this earthly) life, O rat?
چون دوم از اولینت بهترست ** پس فنا جو و مبدل را پرست
Since thy second (life) is better than thy first, therefore seek to die (to the world), and worship the Transmuter.
صد هزاران حشر دیدی ای عنود ** تاکنون هر لحظه از بدو وجود
O contumacious man, thou hast experienced a hundred thousand resurrections at every moment from the beginning of thy existence until now:
از جماد بی‌خبر سوی نما ** وز نما سوی حیات و ابتلا 800
From inanimateness (thou didst move) unconsciously towards (vegetal) growth, and from (vegetal) growth towards (animal) life and tribulation;
باز سوی عقل و تمییزات خوش ** باز سوی خارج این پنج و شش
Again, towards reason and goodly discernments; again, towards (what lies) outside of these five (senses) and six (directions).
تا لب بحر این نشان پایهاست ** پس نشان پا درون بحر لاست
These footprints are (extend) as far as the shore of the Ocean; then the footprints disappear in the Ocean;
زانک منزلهای خشکی ز احتیاط ** هست دهها و وطنها و رباط
Because, from (Divine) precaution, the resting-places (appointed for the traveller) on the dry land are (like) villages and dwellings and caravanserays,
باز منزلهای دریا در وقوف ** وقت موج و حبس بی‌عرصه و سقوف
(While) on the contrary the resting-places of the Ocean, when its billows swell, have no floor or roof (to shelter the traveller) during (his) stay and detention.
نیست پیدا آن مراحل را سنام ** نه نشانست آن منازل را نه نام 805
These (Oceanic) stages have no visible beacon: these resting-places have neither sign nor name.
هست صد چندان میان منزلین ** آن طرف که از نما تا روح عین
Between every two resting-places Yonder there is (a distance) a hundred times as much as from the vegetal state to the Essential Spirit.
در فناها این بقاها دیده‌ای ** بر بقای جسم چون چفسیده‌ای
Thou hast seen this life (to be implicit) in (previous) deaths: how, (then), art thou (so) attached to the life of the body?
هین بده ای زاغ این جان باز باش ** پیش تبدیل خدا جانباز باش
Come, O crow, give up this (animal) soul! Be a falcon, be self-sacrificing in the presence of the Divine transmutation.
تازه می‌گیر و کهن را می‌سپار ** که هر امسالت فزونست از سه پار
Take the new and surrender the old, for every “this year” of thine is superior to three “last years.”
گر نباشی نخل‌وار ایثار کن ** کهنه بر کهنه نه و انبار کن 810
If thou wilt not be lavish (of thyself) like the date-palm, (then) pile old rags on old rags and make a heap,