آزمودم عقل دور اندیش را ** بعد از این دیوانه سازم خویش را
I have tried far-thinking (provident) intellect; henceforth I will make myself mad.
عذر گفتن دلقک با سید که چرا فاحشه را نکاح کرد
How Dalqak excused himself to the Sayyid-i Ajall (who asked him) why he had married a harlot.
گفت با دلقک شبی سید اجل ** قحبهای را خواستی تو از عجل
One night the Sayyid-i Ajall said to Dalqak, “You have married a harlot in haste.
با من این را باز میبایست گفت ** تا یکی مستور کردیمیت جفت
You ought to have disclosed this (matter) to me, so that we might have made a chaste (woman) your wife.”
گفت نه مستور صالح خواستم ** قحبه گشتند و ز غم تن کاستم2335
Dalqak replied, “I have (already) married nine chaste and virtuous women: they became harlots, and I wasted away with grief.
خواستم این قحبه را بیمعرفت ** تا ببینم چون شود این عاقبت
I married this harlot without (previous) acquaintance (with her), in order to see how this one (also) would turn out in the end.
عقل را من آزمودم هم بسی ** زین سپس جویم جنون را مغرسی
Often have I tried (sound) intelligence; henceforth I will seek a nursery for insanity.”
به حیلت در سخن آوردن سائل آن بزرگ را که خود را دیوانه ساخته بود
How an inquirer managed to draw into conversation an eminent (saintly) man who had feigned to be mad.
آن یکی میگفت خواهم عاقلی ** مشورت آرم بدو در مشکلی
A certain man was saying, “I want some one of intelligence, (that) I may consult him about a difficulty.”
آن یکی گفتش که اندر شهر ما ** نیست عاقل جز که آن مجنوننما
One said to him, “In our city there is nobody of intelligence except yonder man who appears to be mad.
بر نیی گشته سواره نک فلان ** میدواند در میان کودکان2340
Look, there is (one named) so-and-so: mounted on a cane, he rides (it as a cock-horse) amongst the children.
صاحب رای است و آتش پارهای ** آسمان قدر است و اختر بارهای
He is possessed of judgment and (keen as) a spark of fire; he is as the sky in dignity, and as the stars in high estate.
فر او کروبیان را جان شده ست ** او در این دیوانگی پنهان شده ست
His glory has become the (rational) soul of the Cherubim; he has become concealed in this (feigned) madness.”
لیک هر دیوانه را جان نشمری ** سر منه گوساله را چون سامری
But you must not account every madman a (rational) soul: do not, like Sámirí, lay down your head (in worship) to a calf.
چون ولیی آشکارا با تو گفت ** صد هزاران غیب و اسرار نهفت
When a manifest saint has declared unto you hundreds of thousands of unseen things and hidden mysteries,
مر ترا آن فهم و آن دانش نبود ** واندانستی تو سرگین را ز عود2345
And you have not had the (proper) understanding and knowledge, (so that) you have not distinguished dung from aloes-wood—
از جنون خود را ولی چون پرده ساخت ** مر و را ای کور کی خواهی شناخت
How, when the saint has made for himself a veil of madness, will you recognise him, O blind one?
گر ترا باز است آن دیدهی یقین ** زیر هر سنگی یکی سرهنگ بین
If your eye of intuitive certainty is open, behold a (spiritual) captain under every stone.
پیش آن چشمی که باز و رهبر است ** هر گلیمی را کلیمی در بر است
To the eye that is open and (as) a guide, every dervish-cloak hath a Moses in its embrace.
مر ولی را هم ولی شهره کند ** هر که را او خواست با بهره کند
’Tis only the saint (himself) that makes the saint known and makes fortunate whomsoever he will.
کس نداند از خرد او را شناخت ** چون که او مر خویش را دیوانه ساخت2350
No one can recognise him by means of wisdom when he has feigned to be mad.
چون بدزدد دزد بینایی ز کور ** هیچ یابد دزد را او در عبور
When a seeing thief steals from a blind man, can he at all detect (the identity of) the thief (who is) in the act of passing?
کور نشناسد که دزد او که بود ** گر چه خود بر وی زند دزد عنود
The blind man does not know who it was that robbed him, even though the wicked thief may knock against him.
چون گزد سگ کور صاحب ژنده را ** کی شناسد آن سگ درنده را
When a dog bites a blind ragged mendicant, how should he recognise that ferocious dog?
حمله بردن سگ بر کور گدا
How the dog attacked the mendicant who was blind.
یک سگی در کوی بر کور گدا ** حمله میآورد چون شیر وغا
A dog was attacking, as (though it were) a warlike lion, a blind mendicant in a certain street.
سگ کند آهنگ درویشان به خشم ** در کشد مه خاک درویشان به چشم2355
The dog rushes angrily at dervishes; the moon smears her eyes with dust of (the feet of) dervishes.
کور عاجز شد ز بانگ و بیم سگ ** اندر آمد کور در تعظیم سگ
The blind man was made helpless by the dog's barking and by (his) fear of the dog; the blind man began to pay honour to the dog.
کای امیر صید و ای شیر شکار ** دست دست تست دست از من بدار
Saying, “O prince of the chase, and O lion of the hunt, thine is the (upper) hand: refrain thy hand from me!”—
کز ضرورت دم خر را آن حکیم ** کرد تعظیم و لقب دادش کریم
For, (moved) by necessity, that (renowned) philosopher paid honour to (one vile as) the tail of an ass, and gave him the title of “noble.”
گفت او هم از ضرورت کای اسد ** از چو من لاغر شکارت چه رسد
He (the blind man) too, of necessity, said, “O lion, what (good) will come to thee from such a meagre prey as I am?
گور میگیرند یارانت به دشت ** کور میگیری تو در کوچه به گشت2360
Thy friends are catching onagers in the desert; thou art catching a blind man in the street; this is bad.
گور میجویند یارانت به صید ** کور میجویی تو در کوچه به کید
Thy friends seek on agers by hunting (them); thou in (mere) malice seekest a blind man in the street.”
آن سگ عالم شکار گور کرد ** وین سگ بیمایه قصد کور کرد
The knowing dog has made the onager his prey, while this worthless dog has attacked a blind man.
علم چون آموخت سگ رست از ضلال ** میکند در بیشهها صید حلال
When the dog has learned the knowledge (imparted to him), he has escaped from error: he hunts lawful prey in the jungles.
سگ چو عالم گشت شد چالاک زحف ** سگ چو عارف گشت شد ز اصحاب کهف
When the dog has become knowing (‘álim), he marches briskly; when the dog has become a knower of God (‘árif), he becomes (as) the Men of the Cave.
سگ شناسا شد که میر صید کیست ** ای خدا آن نور اشناسنده چیست2365
The dog has come to know who is the Master of the hunt. O God, what is that knowing light?
کور نشناسد نه از بیچشمی است ** بلکه این ز آن است کز جهل است مست
(If) the blind man knows it not, ’tis not from (his) having no eye (to see); nay, ’tis because he is drunken with ignorance.
نیست خود بیچشم تر کور از زمین ** این زمین از فضل حق شد خصم بین
Truly, the blind man is not more eyeless than the earth; and this earth, by the grace of God, has become a seer of (God's) enemies.
نور موسی دید و موسی را نواخت ** خسف قارون کرد و قارون را شناخت
It saw the Light of Moses and showed kindness to Moses; (but) Qárún it engulfed, (for) it knew Qárún.
رجف کرد اندر هلاک هر دعی ** فهم کرد از حق که یا أرض ابلعی
It quaked for the destruction of every false pretender: it understood (the words that came) from God, “O earth, swallow (thy water)!”
خاک و آب و باد و نار با شرر ** بیخبر با ما و با حق با خبر2370
Earth and water and air and sparking fire are unacquainted with us, but acquainted with God.
ما بعکس آن ز غیر حق خبیر ** بیخبر از حق و از چندین نذیر
Contrariwise, we are aware of (things) other than God, (but) unaware (heedless) of God and of so many warners (prophets).
لاجرم أشفقن منها جملهشان ** کند شد ز آمیز حیوان حملهشان
As a necessary consequence, they (the elements) all shrank from (accepting) it (the trust offered to them): (the edge of) their impulse to partake of life was blunted.
گفته بیزاریم جمله زین حیات ** کاو بود با خلق حی با حق موات
They said, “We all are averse to this life, (namely), that one should be living in relation to created beings and dead in relation to God.”
چون بماند از خلق گردد او یتیم ** انس حق را قلب میباید سلیم
When he (any one) remains away from created beings, he is orphaned (single): for intimacy with God, the heart must be free (from relations with aught besides).
چون ز کوری دزد دزدد کالهای ** میکند آن کور عمیا نالهای2375
When a thief steals some article of property from a blind man, the blind man is blindly lamenting.
تا نگوید دزد او را کان منم ** کز تو دزدیدم که دزد پر فنم
Until the thief say to him, “’Tis I that stole from thee, for I am an artful thief,”
کی شناسد کور دزد خویش را ** چون ندارد نور چشم و آن ضیا
How should the blind man know his thief, since he hath not the eye's light and that radiance (of vision)?
چون بگوید هم بگیر او را تو سخت ** تا بگوید او علامتهای رخت
When he (the thief) speaks (and confesses), at once take tight hold of him, that he may tell the marks (descriptive) of the (stolen) goods.
پس جهاد اکبر آمد عصر دزد ** تا بگوید که چه دزدیده است مزد
The Greater Jihád (Holy War), then, consists in squeezing the thief, in order that he may tell what he has stolen and what he has carried off.
اولا دزدید کحل دیدهات ** چون ستانی باز یابی تبصرت2380
First, he has stolen your eye-salve; when you take it (from him), you will regain (your) insight.
کالهی حکمت که گم کردهی دل است ** پیش اهل دل یقین آن حاصل است
The goods of wisdom, which have been lost by (your) heart, are certainly to be found with the man of heart (the saint).