گه گه آن بی‌صورت از کتم عدم ** مر صور را رو نماید از کرم
Sometimes the Formless One graciously shows His face to the forms from the concealment (veil) of non-existence,
تا مدد گیرد ازو هر صورتی ** از کمال و از جمال و قدرتی
In order that every form may thereby be replenished with some perfection and beauty and power.
باز بی‌صورت چو پنهان کرد رو ** آمدند از بهر کد در رنگ و بو 3745
When, again, the Formless One has hidden His face, they come to beg in (the realm of) colour and perfume.
صورتی از صورت دیگر کمال ** گر بجوید باشد آن عین ضلال
If one form seek perfection from another form, ’tis the quintessence of error.
پس چه عرضه می‌کنی ای بی‌گهر ** احتیاج خود به محتاجی دگر
Why, then, O worthless man, are you submitting your need to another needy (creature)?
چون صور بنده‌ست بر یزدان مگو ** ظن مبر صورت به تشبیهش مجو
Inasmuch as (all) forms are slaves (to God), do not say or deem that form is applicable to God: do not seek Him by tashbíh (likening Him to His creatures).
در تضرع جوی و در افنای خویش ** کز تفکر جز صور ناید به پیش
Seek (Him) in self-abasement and in self-extinction, for nothing but forms is produced by thinking.
ور ز غیر صورتت نبود فره ** صورتی کان بی‌تو زاید در تو به 3750
And if you derive no advantage (comfort) except from form, (then) the form that comes to birth within you involuntarily is the best.
صورت شهری که آنجا می‌روی ** ذوق بی‌صورت کشیدت ای روی
(Suppose it is) the form of a city to which you are going: you are drawn (thither) by a formless feeling of pleasure, O dependent one;
پس به معنی می‌روی تا لامکان ** که خوشی غیر مکانست و زمان
Therefore you are really going to that which has no locality, for pleasure is (something) different from place and time.
صورت یاری که سوی او شوی ** از برای مونسی‌اش می‌روی
(Suppose it is) the form of a friend to whom you would go: you are going for the sake of enjoying his society;
پس بمعنی سوی بی‌صورت شدی ** گرچه زان مقصود غافل آمدی
Therefore in reality you go to the formless (world), though you are unaware of that (being the) object (of your journey).
پس حقیقت حق بود معبود کل ** کز پی ذوقست سیران سبل 3755
In truth, then, God is worshipped by all, since (all) wayfaring is for the sake of the pleasure (of which He is the source).
لیک بعضی رو سوی دم کرده‌اند ** گرچه سر اصلست سر گم کرده‌اند
But some have set their face towards the tail and have lost the Head, although the Head is the principal;
لیک آن سر پیش این ضالان گم ** می‌دهد داد سری از راه دم
But (nevertheless) that Head is bestowing on these lost and erring ones the bounty proper to Headship by way of the tail.
آن ز سر می‌یابد آن داد این ز دم ** قوم دیگر پا و سر کردند گم
That one obtains the bounty from the Head, this one from the tail; another company (of mystics) have lost (both) foot and head.
چونک گم شد جمله جمله یافتند ** از کم آمد سوی کل بشتافتند
Since all has been lost, they have gained all: through dwindling away (to naught) they have sped towards the Whole.
دیدن ایشان در قصر این قلعه‌ی ذات الصور نقش روی دختر شاه چین را و بیهوش شدن هر سه و در فتنه افتادن و تفحص کردن کی این صورت کیست
How in the pavilion of the fortress adorned with pictures they (the princes) saw a portrait of the daughter of the King of China and how all three lost their senses and fell into distraction and made inquiries, asking, “Whose portrait is this?”
این سخن پایان ندارد آن گروه ** صورتی دیدند با حسن و شکوه 3760
This topic is endless. The company (of three) espied a beauteous and majestic portrait.
خوب‌تر زان دیده بودند آن فریق ** لیک زین رفتند در بحر عمیق
The (travelling) party had seen (pictures) more beautiful than that, but at (the sight of) this one they were plunged in the deep sea,