آن‌چنان کان خواجه را مهمان رسید ** خواجه از ایام و سالش بر رسید
’Tis like the case of the guest who came to a certain Khwája: the Khwája inquired concerning his days and years.
گفت عمرت چند سالست ای پسر ** بازگو و در مدزد و بر شمر 1115
He asked, “How many years hast thou lived, my lad? Say (it) out and don't hide (it) away but count up (correctly).”
گفت هجده هفده یا خود شانزده ** یا که پانزده ای برادرخوانده
He replied, “Eighteen, seventeen, or sixteen, or fifteen, O adoptive brother.”
گفت واپس واپس ای خیره سرت ** باز می‌رو تا بکس مادرت
“(Go) backward, backward,” said he, “O giddy-headed one”; “keep going back usque ad cunnum matris tuae!” [“(Go) backward, backward,” said he, “O giddy-headed one”; “keep going back until (you return to) your mother’s vagina!”]
حکایت در تقریر همین سخن
Story in exposition of the same topic.
آن یکی اسپی طلب کرد از امیر ** گفت رو آن اسپ اشهب را بگیر
A certain man begged an Amír to give him a horse: he said, “Go and take that grey horse.”
گفت آن را من نخواهم گفت چون ** گفت او واپس‌روست و بس حرون
He replied, “I don't want that one.” “Why not?” he asked. “It goes backward and is very restive,” said he;
سخت پس پس می‌رود او سوی بن ** گفت دمش را به سوی خانه کن 1120
“It goes back, back very hard in the direction of its rump.” He replied, “Turn its tail towards home!”
دم این استور نفست شهوتست ** زین سبب پس پس رود آن خودپرست
The tail of this beast you are riding, (namely), your carnal soul, is lust; hence that self-worshipper goes back, back.
شهوت او را که دم آمد ز بن ** ای مبدل شهوت عقبیش کن
O changer, make its (carnal) lust, which is the tail, to be entirely lust for the world hereafter.
چون ببندی شهوتش را از رغیف ** سر کند آن شهوت از عقل شریف
When you bind its lust (and debar it) from the loaf, that lust puts forth its head from (is transformed into) noble reason.
هم‌چو شاخی که ببری از درخت ** سر کند قوت ز شاخ نیک‌بخت
As, when you lop off a (superfluous) branch from a tree, vigour is imparted to the well-conditioned branches.
چونک کردی دم او را آن طرف ** گر رود پس پس رود تا مکتنف 1125
When you have turned its (the carnal steed's) tail in that direction, if it goes backward, it goes to the place of shelter.
حبذا اسپان رام پیش‌رو ** نه سپس‌رو نه حرونی را گرو
How excellent are the docile horses which go forward, not backward, and are not given over to restiveness,
گرم‌رو چون جسم موسی کلیم ** تا به بحرینش چو پهنای گلیم
Going hot-foot, like the body of Moses the Kalím, to which (the distance) to the two seas (was) as the breadth of a blanket!
هست هفصدساله راه آن حقب ** که بکرد او عزم در سیران حب
Seven hundred years is the duration of the journey on which he set out in the path of Love, (the journey that lasted) for an age.
همت سیر تنش چون این بود ** سیر جانش تا به علیین بود
Since the aspiration (that carried him) on his journey in the body is (as immense as) this, his journey in the spirit must be (even) unto the highestParadise.
شهسواران در سباقت تاختند ** خربطان در پایگه انداختند 1130
The kingly cavaliers sped forward in advance (of all); the boobies unloaded (their beasts of burden) in the stable-yard.
مثل
Parable.
آن‌چنان که کاروانی می‌رسید ** در دهی آمد دری را باز دید
’Tis like (the tale of) the caravaneers (who) arrived and entered a village and found a certain door open.
آن یکی گفت اندرین برد العجوز ** تا بیندازیم اینجا چند روز
One (of them) said, “During this spell of cold weather let us unload (alight) here for a few days.”
بانگ آمد نه بینداز از برون ** وانگهانی اندر آ تو اندرون
A voice cried, “Nay, unload outside, and then come indoors!”
هم برون افکن هر آنچ افکندنیست ** در میا با آن کای ن مجلس سنیست
Drop outside everything that ought to be dropped: do not come in with it, for this assembly-place is of high dignity.”
بد هلال استاددل جان‌روشنی ** سایس و بنده‌ی امیری مومنی 1135
Hilál was a spiritual adept and a man of illumined soul, (though he was) the groom and slave of a Moslem Amír.
سایسی کردی در آخر آن غلام ** لیک سلطان سلاطین بنده نام
The youth served as a groom in the stable, but (he was really) a king of kings and a slave (only) in name.
آن امیر از حال بنده بی‌خبر ** که نبودش جز بلیسانه نظر
The Amír was ignorant of his slave's (real) condition, for he had no discernment but of the sort possessed by Iblís.
آب و گل می‌دید و در وی گنج نه ** پنج و شش می‌دید و اصل پنج نه
He saw the clay, but not the treasure (buried) in it: he saw the five (senses) and the six (directions), but not the source of the five.