همچو ابلیسی که میگفت ای سلام ** رب أنظرنی إلی یوم القیام630
(He pleaded) like the Devil, who was saying, “O Preserver, O my Lord, grant me a respite till the day of Resurrection;
کاندر این زندان دنیا من خوشم ** تا که دشمن زادگان را میکشم
For I am happy (to be) in the prison of this world, in order that I may be slaying the children of mine enemy,
هر که او را قوت ایمانی بود ** و ز برای زاد ره نانی بود
(And), if any one have some food of faith and a single loaf as provision for the journey (to the life hereafter),
میستانم گه به مکر و گه به ریو ** تا بر آرند از پشیمانی غریو
I may seize it, now by plot and now by guile, so that in repentance they may raise an outcry (of lamentation);
گه به درویشی کنم تهدیدشان ** گه به زلف و خال بندم دیدشان
(And in order that) sometimes I may threaten them with poverty, sometimes bind their eyes with (the spell of) tress and mole.”
قوت ایمانی در این زندان کم است ** وان که هست از قصد این سگ در خم است635
In this prison (the world) the food of faith is scarce, and that which exists is in (danger of being caught in) the noose (of destruction) through the attack of this cur.
از نماز و صوم و صد بیچارگی ** قوت ذوق آید برد یک بارگی
(If) from prayer and fasting and a hundred helplessnesses (utter self-abnegations) the food of spiritual feeling come (to any one), he (the Devil) at once carries it off.
أستعیذ الله من شیطانه ** قد هلکنا آه من طغیانه
I seek refuge with God from His Satan: we have perished, alas, through his overweening disobedience.
یک سگ است و در هزاران میرود ** هر که در وی رفت او او میشود
He is (but) one cur, and he goes into thousands (of people): into whomsoever he goes, he (that person) becomes he (Satan).
هر که سردت کرد میدان کاو در اوست ** دیو پنهان گشته اندر زیر پوست
Whoever makes you cold (damps your spiritual ardour) know that he (Satan) is in him: the Devil has become hidden beneath his skin.
چون نیابد صورت آید در خیال ** تا کشاند آن خیالت در وبال640
When he finds no (bodily) form, he comes into (your) fancy, in order that that fancy may lead you into woe:
گه خیال فرجه و گاهی دکان ** گه خیال علم و گاهی خان و مان
Now the fancy of recreation, now of the shop; now the fancy of knowledge, and now of house and home.
هان بگو لاحولها اندر زمان ** از زبان تنها نه بلک از عین جان
Beware! say at once “God help me!” again and again, not with tongue alone but from your very soul.
تتمه قصه مفلس
The end of the story of the insolvent.
گفت قاضی مفلسی را وانما ** گفت اینک اهل زندانت گوا
The Cadi said, “Show plainly that you are insolvent.” “Here are the prisoners,” he replied, “as thy witnesses.”
گفت ایشان متهم باشند چون ** میگریزند از تو میگریند خون
“They,” said the Cadi, “are suspect, because they are fleeing from you and weeping blood (on account of your ill-treatment of them);
از تو میخواهند هم تا وارهند ** زین غرض باطل گواهی میدهند645
Also, they are suing to be delivered from you: by reason of this self-interest the testimony they give is worthless.”
جمله اهل محکمه گفتند ما ** هم بر ادبار و بر افلاسش گوا
All the people belonging to the court of justice said, “We bear witness both to his (moral) degeneracy and his insolvency.”
هر که را پرسید قاضی حال او ** گفت مولا دست ازین مفلس بشو
Every one whom the Cadi questioned about his condition said, “My lord, wash thy hands of this insolvent.”
گفت قاضی کش بگردانید فاش ** گرد شهر این مفلس است و بس قلاش
The Cadi said, “March him round the city for all to see, (and cry), ‘This man is an insolvent and a great rogue.’
کو به کو او را مناداها زنید ** طبل افلاسش عیان هر جا زنید
Make proclamations concerning him, street by street; beat the drum (as an advertisement) of his insolvency everywhere in open view.
هیچ کس نسیه بنفروشد بدو ** قرض ندهد هیچ کس او را تسو650
Let no one sell to him on credit, let no one lend him a farthing.
هر که دعوی آردش اینجا به فن ** بیش زندانش نخواهم کرد من
Whosoever may bring here a claim against him for fraud, I will not put him in prison any more.
پیش من افلاس او ثابت شده است ** نقد و کالا نیستش چیزی به دست
His insolvency has been proven to me: he has nothing in his possession, (neither) money nor goods.”
آدمی در حبس دنیا ز آن بود ** تا بود کافلاس او ثابت شود
Man is in the prison of this world in order that peradventure his insolvency may be proven.
مفلسی دیو را یزدان ما ** هم منادی کرد در قرآن ما
Our God has also proclaimed in our Qur’án the insolvency of the Devil,
کاو دغا و مفلس است و بد سخن ** هیچ با او شرکت و سودا مکن655
Saying, “He is a swindler and insolvent and liar: do not make any partnership or do any trade with him.”
ور کنی او را بهانه آوری ** مفلس است او صرفه از وی کی بری
And if you do so (and) bring (vain) pretexts to him, he is insolvent: how will you get profit from him?
حاضر آوردند چون فتنه فروخت ** اشتر کردی که هیزم میفروخت
When the trouble started, they brought on the scene the camel of a Kurd who sold firewood.
کرد بیچاره بسی فریاد کرد ** هم موکل را به دانگی شاد کرد
The helpless Kurd made a great outcry; he also gladdened the officer (appointed to seize the camel) with (the gift of) a dáng;
اشترش بردند از هنگام چاشت ** تا شب و افغان او سودی نداشت
(But) they took away his camel from the time of forenoon until nightfall, and his lamentation was of no use.
بر شتر بنشست آن قحط گران ** صاحب اشتر پی اشتر دوان660
Upon the camel sat that sore famine (the insolvent), while the owner of the camel was running at its heels.
سو به سو و کو به کو میتاختند ** تا همه شهرش عیان بشناختند
They sped from quarter to quarter and from street to street, till the whole town knew him by sight.
پیش هر حمام و هر بازارگاه ** کرده مردم جمله در شکلش نگاه
Before every bath and market-place all the people gazed on his (features and) figure.
ده منادی گر بلند آوازیان ** کرد و ترک و رومیان و تازیان
(There were) ten loud-voiced criers, Turks and Kurds and Anatolians and Arabs, (proclaiming),
مفلس است این و ندارد هیچ چیز ** قرض تا ندهد کس او را یک پشیز
“This man is insolvent and has nothing: let no one lend him a single brass farthing;
ظاهر و باطن ندارد حبهای ** مفلسی قلبی دغایی دبهای665
He does not possess a single mite, patent or latent: he is a bankrupt, a piece of falsehood, a cunning knave, an oil-bag.
هان و هان با او حریفی کم کنید ** چون که کاو آرد گره محکم کنید
Beware and beware! Have no dealings with him; when he brings the ox (to sell), make fast the knot.
ور به حکم آرید این پژمرده را ** من نخواهم کرد زندان مرده را
And if ye bring this decayed fellow to judgement, I will not put a corpse in prison.
خوش دم است او و گلویش بس فراخ ** با شعار نو دثار شاخ شاخ
He is fair-spoken and his throat is very wide; (he is clad) with a new inner garment (of plausibility) and a tattered outer garment.
گر بپوشد بهر مکر آن جامه را ** عاریه است او و فریبد عامه را
If he puts on that (inner) garment for the purpose of deceiving, it is borrowed in order that he may beguile the common folk.”
حرف حکمت بر زبان ناحکیم ** حلههای عاریت دان ای سلیم670
Know, O simple man, that words of wisdom on the tongue of the unwise are (as) borrowed robes.
گر چه دزدی حلهای پوشیده است ** دست تو چون گیرد آن ببریده دست
Although a thief has put on a (fine) robe, how should he whose hand is cut off take your hand (lend you a helping hand)?
چون شبانه از شتر آمد به زیر ** کرد گفتش منزلم دور است و دیر
When at nightfall he (the insolvent) came down from the camel, the Kurd said to him, “My abode is far (from here) and a long way off.
بر نشستی اشترم را از پگاه ** جو رها کردم کم از اخراج کاه
You have ridden on my camel since early morning: I (will) let the barley go, (but I will not take) less than the cost of (some) straw.”
گفت تا اکنون چه میکردیم پس ** هوش تو کو، نیست اندر خانه کس
"What, then," he rejoined, "have we been doing until now? Where are your wits? Is nobody at home?
طبل افلاسم به چرخ سابعه ** رفت و تو نشنیدهای بد واقعه675
The (sound of the) drum (giving notice) of my insolvency reached the Seventh Heaven, and you have not heard the bad news!
گوش تو پر بوده است از طمع خام ** پس طمع کر میکند کور ای غلام
Your ear has been filled with foolish hope; (such) hope, then, makes (one) deaf (and) blind, my lad.”
تا کلوخ و سنگ بشنید این بیان ** مفلس است و مفلس است این قلتبان
Even clods and stones heard this advertisement—“he is insolvent, he is insolvent, this scoundrel.”
تا به شب گفتند و در صاحب شتر ** بر نزد کاو از طمع پر بود پر
They (the criers) said it till nightfall, and it made no impression on the owner of the camel, because he was full of (idle) hope, full.
هست بر سمع و بصر مهر خدا ** در حجب بس صورت است و بس صدا
God's seal lies upon the hearing and sight: within the veils is many a form and many a sound.