گفت سه گونه زناند اندر جهان ** آن دو رنج و این یکی گنج روان2405
“There are three kinds of women in the world,” said he: “two of those are a sorrow, and one is the soul's treasure.
آن یکی را چون بخواهی کل تراست ** و آن دگر نیمی ترا نیمی جداست
The first, when you marry her, is wholly yours; and the second is half yours and half separate (from you);
و آن سوم هیچ او ترا نبود بدان ** این شنودی دور شو رفتم روان
And the third, know she is not yours at all. You have heard this. Away (with you)!—I start in a trice—
تا ترا اسبم نپراند لگد ** که بیفتی بر نخیزی تا ابد
Lest my horse let fly a kick at you, so that you fall and never rise up (again).”
شیخ راند اندر میان کودکان ** بانگ زد بار دگر او را جوان
The Shaykh rode off amongst the children, (but) the young man shouted to him once more,
که بیا آخر بگو تفسیر این ** این زنان سه نوع گفتی بر گزین2410
“Come, prithee declare the exposition of this. Thou hast said that these women are of three kinds: pick (them) out.”
راند سوی او و گفتش بکر خاص ** کل ترا باشد ز غم یابی خلاص
He rode towards him and said to him, “The virgin of your choice will be wholly yours, and you will gain freedom from sorrow;
و انکه نیمی آن تو بیوه بود ** و انکه هیچست آن عیال با ولد
And she that is half yours is the (childless) widow; and she that is nothing (to you) is the married woman with a child:
چون ز شوی اولش کودک بود ** مهر و کل خاطرش آن سو رود
When she has a child by her first husband, her love and whole heart will go to that quarter.
دور شو تا اسب نندازد لگد ** سم اسب توسنم بر تو رسد
(Now) get away, lest my horse launch a kick, and the hoof of my restive horse land upon you.”
های و هویی کرد شیخ و باز راند ** کودکان را باز سوی خویش خواند2415
The Shaykh gave a loud cry of jubilation and rode back: he again called the children to him.
باز بانگش کرد آن سایل بیا ** یک سؤالم ماند ای شاه کیا
That inquirer shouted to him once more, “Come (hither), I have one question left, O sovereign king.”
باز راند این سو بگو زودتر چه بود ** که ز میدان آن بچه گویم ربود
He rode back in this direction. “Say what it is,” he cried, “as quick as you can, for yonder child has enraptured my heart.”
گفت ای شه با چنین عقل و ادب ** این چه شیداست این چه فعل است ای عجب
Said the other, “O king, with such intelligence and erudition (as thou hast), what dissimulation is this? What acting is this? Oh, ’tis a marvel!
تو ورای عقل کلی در بیان ** آفتابی در جنون چونی نهان
Thou transcendest the Universal Intellect in (thy power of) elucidation. Thou art a sun: how art thou hid in madness?”
گفت این اوباش رایی میزنند ** تا در این شهر خودم قاضی کنند2420
He replied, “These rascals are proposing to make me Cadi in this their city.
دفع میگفتم مرا گفتند نی ** نیست چون تو عالمی صاحب فنی
I raised objections, (but) they said to me, ‘Nay, there is none so learned and accomplished as thou.
با وجود تو حرام است و خبیث ** که کم از تو در قضا گوید حدیث
Whilst thou art in existence, it is unlawful and wicked that any one inferior to thee should cite Prophetic Traditions in the office of Cadi.
در شریعت نیست دستوری که ما ** کمتر از تو شه کنیم و پیشوا
Permission is not (given) in the Law, that we should appoint one less than thee as (our) prince and leader.’
زین ضرورت گیج و دیوانه شدم ** لیک در باطن همانم که بدم
By this necessity I was made distraught and mad (in appearance), but inwardly I am just the same as I was.
عقل من گنج است و من ویرانهام ** گنج اگر پیدا کنم دیوانهام2425
My intelligence is the (hidden) treasure, and I am the ruin (which covers it); if I display the treasure, (then) I am mad (indeed).
اوست دیوانه که دیوانه نشد ** این عسس را دید و در خانه نشد
The (real) madman is he that has not gone mad, he that has seen this night patrol and has not gone home.
دانش من جوهر آمد نه عرض ** این بهایی نیست بهر هر غرض
My knowledge is substantial, not accidental; and this precious (thing) is not for (the purpose of gaining) every (worldly) interest.
کان قندم نیستان شکرم ** هم ز من میروید و من میخورم
I am a mine of candy, I am a plantation of sugar-canes: it is growing from me, and at the same time I am eating (of it).
علم تقلیدی و تعلیمی است آن ** کز نفورش مستمع دارد فغان
Knowledge is conventional and acquired (not real), when he (its owner) laments because the hearer is averse to (hearing) it.
چون پی دانه نه بهر روشنی است ** همچو طالب علم دنیای دنی است2430
Since it is (learned) as a bait (for popularity), not for the sake of (spiritual) enlightenment, he (the seeker of religious knowledge) is just as (bad) as the seeker of vile worldly knowledge;
طالب علم است بهر عام و خاص ** نی که تا یابد از این عالم خلاص
(For) he is seeking knowledge on account of the vulgar and the noble, not in order that he may win release from this world.
همچو موشی هر طرف سوراخ کرد ** چون که نورش راند از در گشت سرد
Like a mouse, he has burrowed in every direction, since the light drove him (back) from the door (the entrance to the hole) and said, ‘Away!’
چون که سوی دشت و نورش ره نبود ** هم در آن ظلمات جهدی مینمود
Inasmuch as he had no way (of getting out) to the open country and the light, he continued to make (such) an exertion even in that darkness.
گر خدایش پر دهد پر خرد ** برهد از موشی و چون مرغان پرد
If God give him wings, the wings of Wisdom, he will escape from mousiness and will fly like the birds;
ور نجوید پر بماند زیر خاک ** ناامید از رفتن راه سماک2435
But if he seek not wings, he will remain underground with no hope of traversing the path to Simák.
علم گفتاری که آن بیجان بود ** عاشق روی خریداران بود
Dialectic knowledge, which is soulless, is in love with (eager for) the countenance of customers;
گر چه باشد وقت بحث علم زفت ** چون خریدارش نباشد مرد و رفت
(But) though it is robust at the time of disputation, it is dead and gone when it has no customer.
مشتری من خدای است او مرا ** میکشد بالا که الله اشتری
My purchaser is God: He is drawing me aloft, for God hath purchased.
خونبهای من جمال ذو الجلال ** خونبهای خود خورم کسب حلال
My bloodwit (the reward of my self-sacrifice) is the beauty of the Glorious One: I enjoy my bloodwit (as) lawful earnings.
این خریداران مفلس را بهل ** چه خریداری کند یک مشت گل2440
Abandon these insolvent customers: what purchase can be made by a handful of (worthless) clay?
گل مخور گل را مخر گل را مجو ** ز انکه گل خوار است دایم زرد رو
Do not eat clay, do not buy clay, do not seek clay, because the eater of clay is always pale-faced.
دل بخور تا دایما باشی جوان ** از تجلی چهرهات چون ارغوان
Eat your heart (in love of God), that you may be young always, (and that) your visage (may be rosy) with Divine illumination, like the arghawán.”
یا رب این بخشش نه حد کار ماست ** لطف تو لطف خفی را خود سزاست
O Lord, this gift is not (within) the compass of our work (achievement): verily, (the gift of) Thy grace is (not according to our work, but) according to Thy mysterious grace.
دست گیر از دست ما ما را بخر ** پرده را بردار و پردهی ما مدر
Take our hands (help us); buy (redeem) us from our hands (self-existence); lift the veil (between Thee and us), and do not tear our veil (do not expose us to shame).
باز خر ما را از این نفس پلید ** کاردش تا استخوان ما رسید2445
Redeem us from this filthy self (nafs): its knife has reached our bones.
از چو ما بیچارگان این بند سخت ** کی گشاید ای شه بیتاج و تخت
Who will loose these strong chains from helpless ones like us, O king uncrowned and unthroned?
این چنین قفل گران را ای ودود ** کی تواند جز که فضل تو گشود
Who except (Thee in) Thy bounty, O Loving One, can loose such a heavy lock?
ما ز خود سوی که گردانیم سر ** چون تویی از ما به ما نزدیکتر
Let us turn our heads from ourselves towards Thee, inasmuch as Thou art nigher unto us than we (unto ourselves).
این دعا هم بخشش و تعلیم تست ** گر نه در گلخن گلستان از چه رست
Even this prayer is Thy gift and lesson (to us); else, wherefore has a rose-bed grown in an ash-pit?
در میان خون و روده فهم و عقل ** جز ز اکرام تو نتوان کرد نقل2450
Save through Thy munificence, ’tis impossible to convey understanding and reason into the midst of blood and entrails.
از دو پارهی پیه این نور روان ** موج نورش میزند بر آسمان
This flowing light (proceeds) from two pieces of fat (the two eyeballs): their waves of light reach up to the sky.
گوشت پاره که زبان آمد از او ** میرود سیلاب حکمت همچو جو
The piece of flesh which is the tongue—from it the flood of Wisdom is flowing, like a stream,
سوی سوراخی که نامش گوشهاست ** تا بباغ جان که میوهاش هوشهاست
Towards a cavity, whereof the name is “ears,” up to the orchard of the (rational) soul, whereof the fruit is intellections.
شاه راه باغ جانها شرع اوست ** باغ و بستانهای عالم فرع اوست
Its main course is the highway of the orchard of souls; the orchards and gardens of the world are its branches.