کاینچ می‌کاری نروید جز که خار ** وین طرف پری نیابی زو مطار
Saying, “That which thou art sowing will produce naught but thorns; and (if) thou fly in this (worldly) direction thou wilt find there no room to fly (beyond).
تخم از من بر که تا ریعی دهد ** با پر من پر که تیر آن سو جهد
Get the seed from me, that it may yield a (good) crop; fly with my wings, that the arrow may speed Yonder.
تو ندانی واجبی آن و هست ** هم تو گویی آخر آن واجب بدست
(If) thou dost not recognise the necessity and (real) existence of that (flight to God), yet in the end thou wilt confess that it was necessary.”
او توست اما نه این تو آن توست ** که در آخر واقف بیرون‌شوست
He (the prophet) is thou, but not this (unreal) “thou”: (he is) that “thou” which in the end is conscious of escape (from the world of illusion).
توی آخر سوی توی اولت ** آمدست از بهر تنبیه و صلت 3775
Thy last (unreal) “thou” has come to thy first (real) “thou” to receive admonition and gifts.
توی تو در دیگری آمد دفین ** من غلام مرد خودبینی چنین
Thy (real) “thou” is buried in another (unreal “thou”): I am the (devoted) slave of a man who thus (truly) sees himself.
آنچ در آیینه می‌بیند جوان ** پیر اندر خشت بیند بیش از آن
That which the youth sees in the mirror the Elder sees beforehand in the (crude iron) brick.
ز امر شاه خویش بیرون آمدیم ** با عنایات پدر یاغی شدیم
(The princes said), “We have transgressed the command of our King, we have rebelled against the favours of our father.
سهل دانستیم قول شاه را ** وان عنایت‌های بی اشباه را
We have lightly esteemed the King's word and those incomparable favours.
نک در افتادیم در خندق همه ** کشته و خسته‌ی بلا بی ملحمه 3780
Lo, we all are fallen into the moat, killed and wounded by affliction without combat.
تکیه بر عقل خود و فرهنگ خویش ** بودمان تا این بلا آمد به پیش
We relied on our own intelligence and wisdom, so that this tribulation has come to pass.
بی‌مرض دیدیم خویش و بی ز رق ** آنچنان که خویش را بیمار دق
We regarded ourselves as being without disease and emancipated (from fear of death), just as one suffering from phthisis regards himself.
علت پنهان کنون شد آشکار ** بعد از آنک بند گشتیم و شکار
Now, after we have been made prisoners and a prey, the hidden malady has become apparent.”
سایه‌ی رهبر بهست از ذکر حق ** یک قناعت به که صد لوت و طبق
The shadow (protection) of the (spiritual) Guide is better than praising God (by one's self): a single (feeling of) contentment is better than a hundred viands and trays (of food).
چشم بینا بهتر از سیصد عصا ** چشم بشناسد گهر را از حصا 3785
A seeing eye is better than three hundred (blind men's) staves: the eye knows (can distinguish) pearls from pebbles.
در تفحص آمدند از اندهان ** صورت کی بود عجب این در جهان
(Moved) by sorrows (pains of love) they began to make inquiry, saying, “Who in the world, we wonder, is she of whom this is the portrait?”
بعد بسیاری تفحص در مسیر ** کشف کرد آن راز را شیخی بصیر
After much inquiry in (the course of their) travel, a Shaykh endowed with insight disclosed the mystery,
نه از طریق گوش بل از وحی هوش ** رازها بد پیش او بی روی‌پوش
Not (verbally) by way of the ear, but (silently) by inspiration (derived) from Reason: to him (all) mysteries were unveiled.
گفت نقش رشک پروینست این ** صورت شه‌زاده‌ی چینست این
He said, “This is the portrait of (her who is) an object of envy to the Pleiades: this is the picture of the Princess of China.
هم‌چو جان و چون جنین پنهانست او ** در مکتم پرده و ایوانست او 3790
She is hidden like the spirit and like the embryo: she is (kept) in a secret bower and palace.
سوی او نه مرد ره دارد نه زن ** شاه پنهان کرد او را از فتن
Neither man nor woman is admitted to her (presence): the King has concealed her on account of her fascinations.
غیرتی دارد ملک بر نام او ** که نپرد مرغ هم بر بام او
The King has a (great) jealousy for her (good) name, so that not even a bird flies above her roof.”
وای آن دل کش چنین سودا فتاد ** هیچ کس را این چنین سودا مباد
Alas for the heart that such an insane passion has stricken: may no one feel a passion like this!
این سزای آنک تخم جهل کاشت ** وآن نصیحت را کساد و سهل داشت
This is the retribution due to him who sowed the seed of ignorance and held light and cheap that (precious) counsel,
اعتمادی کرد بر تدبیر خویش ** که برم من کار خود با عقل پیش 3795
And put a (great) trust in his own management, saying, “By dint of intelligence I will carry my affair to success.”