باز گوید کور نه این سنگ بود ** یا مگر از قبه‌ی پر طنگ بود 2215
(But) then again the blind man says, “No, it was a stone (which some one threw at me), or perhaps it was (a brick) from an echoing dome.”
این نبود و او نبود و آن نبود ** آنک او ترس آفرید اینها نمود
It was neither this nor that nor that: He who created fear produced these (phantasies).
ترس و لرزه باشد از غیری یقین ** هیچ کس از خود نترسد ای حزین
Certainly fear and trembling are (produced) by another: nobody is frightened by himself, O sorrowful man.
آن حکیمک وهم خواند ترس را ** فهم کژ کردست او این درس را
The miserable philosopher calls fear “imagination” (wahm): he has wrongly understood this lesson.
هیچ وهمی بی‌حقیقت کی بود ** هیچ قلبی بی‌صحیحی کی رود
How should there be any imagination without reality? How should any false coin pass (into circulation) without a genuine one?
کی دروغی قیمت آرد بی ز راست ** در دو عالم هر دروغ از راست خاست 2220
How should a lie fetch a price (have value) without truth? Every lie in both worlds has arisen from truth.
راست را دید او رواجی و فروغ ** بر امید آن روان کرد او دروغ
He (the liar) saw the currency and prestige enjoyed by truth: he set going (circulated) the lie in hope of (its enjoying) the same.
ای دروغی که ز صدقت این نواست ** شکر نعمت گو مکن انکار راست
O (incarnate) lie, whose fortune is (derived) from veracity, give thanks for the bounty and do not deny the truth!
از مفلسف گویم و سودای او ** یا ز کشتیها و دریاهای او
Shall I speak of the philosopher and his mad fancy, or of His (God's) ships (arks) and seas (floods)?
بل ز کشتیهاش کان پند دلست ** گویم از کل جزو در کل داخلست
Nay, (I will speak) of His arks, which are the spiritual counsel (given by the saints); I will speak of the whole: the part is included in the whole.
هر ولی را نوح و کشتیبان شناس ** صحبت این خلق را طوفان شناس 2225
Know every saint to be a Noah and captain of the Ark; know companionship with these (worldly) people to be the Flood.
کم گریز از شیر و اژدرهای نر ** ز آشنایان و ز خویشان کن حذر
Do not flee from lions and fierce dragons, (but) beware of friends and kinsmen.
در تلاقی روزگارت می‌برند ** یادهاشان غایبی‌ات می‌چرند
They waste your time (when you are) face to face (with them), and your recollections of them devour (the time of) your absence (from them).
چون خر تشنه خیال هر یکی ** از قف تن فکر را شربت‌مکی
Like a thirsty ass, the image of each one (in your phantasy) is licking up the sherbet of (spiritual) thought from the flagon of the body.
نشف کرد از تو خیال آن وشات ** شبنمی که داری از بحر الحیات
The (mental) image of those talebearers has sucked out of you the dew that you have (derived) from the Sea of Life.
پس نشان نشف آب اندر غصون ** آن بود کان می‌نجنبد در رکون 2230
The sign, then, of the absorption (drying up) of the water (sap) in the boughs is that they are not moved to sway (to and fro).
عضو حر شاخ تر و تازه بود ** می‌کشی هر سو کشیده می‌شود
The limb of him who is free (detached from the world) is (like) a moist fresh bough: (if) you pull it in any direction, it is (easily) pulled.
گر سبد خواهی توانی کردنش ** هم توانی کرد چنبر گردنش
If you want a basket, you can make it (a basket); you can also make its neck a hoop;
چون شد آن ناشف ز نشف بیخ خود ** ناید آن سویی که امرش می‌کشد
(But) when it has been sucked dry by the draining of (the sap from) its root, it does not come (readily) in the direction to which (your) command is pulling it.
پس بخوان قاموا کسالی از نبی ** چون نیابد شاخ از بیخش طبی
Recite, then, from the Qur’án (the words) they stand up languidly, when the bough gets no medicinal (curative) treatment from its root.
آتشین است این نشان کوته کنم ** بر فقیر و گنج و احوالش زنم 2235
This symbol (allegory) is fiery, (but) I will cut it short and resume (the story of) the fakir and the treasure and the circumstances connected with it.
آتشی دیدی که سوزد هر نهال ** آتش جان بین کزو سوزد خیال
You have seen the fire that burns every (dry) sapling; (now) see the fire of the Spirit by which phantasy is burnt.
نه خیال و نه حقیقت را امان ** زین چنین آتش که شعله زد ز جان
Neither for phantasy nor for reality is there any protection against a fire like this which flamed forth from the Spirit.
خصم هر شیر آمد و هر روبه او ** کل شیء هالک الا وجهه
He is the adversary of every lion and every fox: everything is perishing except His Face.
در وجوه وجه او رو خرج شو ** چون الف در بسم در رو درج شو
Go into His aspects (attributes) and Face (Essence), become spent (emptied of self): go in, become enveloped (suppressed), like the alif in bism.