این جهان از بیجهت پیدا شده ست ** که ز بیجایی جهان را جا شده ست
This (spatial) world has been produced from that which is without spatial relations, for the world has received (the relation of) place from placelessness.
باز گرد از هست سوی نیستی ** طالب ربی و ربانیستی
Turn back from existence towards non-existence, (if) you seek the Lord and belong to the Lord.
جای دخل است این عدم از وی مرم ** جای خرج است این وجود بیش و کم
This non-existence is the place of income: do not flee from it; this existence of more and less is the place of expenditure.
کارگاه صنع حق چون نیستی است ** پس برون کارگه بیقیمتی است690
Since God's workshop is non-existence, in the world of (phenomenal) existence who is (to be found) except the idle?
یاد ده ما را سخنهای دقیق ** که ترا رحم آورد آن ای رفیق
Put into our heart subtle words which may move Thee to mercy, O Gracious One!
هم دعا از تو اجابت هم ز تو ** ایمنی از تو مهابت هم ز تو
From Thee (come) both the prayer and the answer; from Thee safety, from Thee also dread.
گر خطا گفتیم اصلاحش تو کن ** مصلحی تو ای تو سلطان سخن
If we have spoken faultily, do Thou correct it: Thou art the Corrector, O Thou (who art the) Sultan of speech.
کیمیا داری که تبدیلش کنی ** گر چه جوی خون بود نیلش کنی
Thou hast the alchemy whereby Thou mayst transmute it, and though it be a river of blood, mayst make it a Nile.
این چنین میناگریها کار تست ** این چنین اکسیرها اسرار تست695
Such alchemical operations are Thy work, such elixirs are Thy secrets.
آب را و خاک را بر هم زدی ** ز آب و گل نقش تن آدم زدی
Thou didst beat water and earth together: from water and clay Thou didst mould the body of Adam.
نسبتش دادی و جفت و خال و عم ** با هزار اندیشه و شادی و غم
Thou gavest him (Man) lineage and wife and uncles, maternal and paternal, with a thousand thoughts and joys and griefs.
باز بعضی را رهایی دادهای ** زین غم و شادی جدایی دادهای
Again, to some Thou hast given deliverance: Thou hast parted them from this grief and joy;
بردهای از خویش و پیوند و سرشت ** کردهای در چشم او هر خوب زشت
Thou hast borne them away from kindred and relatives and (their own) nature, Thou hast made every fair thing foul in his (such a one's) eyes.
هر چه محسوس است او رد میکند ** و انچه ناپیداست مسند میکند700
He spurns all that is perceived by the senses, and leans for support on that which is invisible.
عشق او پیدا و معشوقش نهان ** یار بیرون فتنهی او در جهان
His love is manifest and his Beloved is hidden: the Friend is outside (of the world), (but) His fascination is in the world.
این رها کن عشقهای صورتی ** نیست بر صورت نه بر روی ستی
Give up this (belief). Loves (felt) for what is endued with form have not as their object the (outward) form or the lady's face.
آن چه معشوق است صورت نیست آن ** خواه عشق این جهان خواه آن جهان
That which is the object of love is not the form, whether it be love for (the things of) this world or yonder world.
آن چه بر صورت تو عاشق گشتهای ** چون برون شد جان چرایش هشتهای
That which you have come to love for its form—why have you abandoned it after the spirit has fled?
صورتش بر جاست این سیری ز چیست ** عاشقا واجو که معشوق تو کیست705
Its form is still there: whence (then) this satiety (disgust)? O lover, inquire who your beloved (really) is.
آن چه محسوس است اگر معشوقه است ** عاشق استی هر که او را حس هست
If the beloved is that which the senses perceive, every one that has senses would be in love (with it).
چون وفا آن عشق افزون میکند ** کی وفا صورت دگرگون میکند
Inasmuch as constancy is increased by that (spiritual) love, how is constancy altered (impaired) by the (decay of the material) form?
پرتو خورشید بر دیوار تافت ** تابش عاریتی دیوار یافت
The sunbeam shone upon the wall: the wall received a borrowed splendour.
بر کلوخی دل چه بندی ای سلیم ** واطلب اصلی که تابد او مقیم
Why set your heart on a piece of turf, O simple man? Seek out the source which shines perpetually.
ای که تو هم عاشقی بر عقل خویش ** خویش بر صورت پرستان دیده بیش710
You who are in love with your intellect, deeming yourself superior to worshippers of form,
پرتو عقل است آن بر حس تو ** عاریت میدان ذهب بر مس تو
That (intellect) is a beam of (Universal) Intellect (cast) on your sense-perception; regard it as borrowed gold on your copper.
چون زر اندود است خوبی در بشر ** ور نه چون شد شاهد تو پیر خر
Beauty in humankind is like gilding; else, how did your sweetheart become (as ugly as) an old ass?
چون فرشته بود همچون دیو شد ** کان ملاحت اندر او عاریه بد
She was like an angel, she became like a demon, for that loveliness in her was a borrowed (transient) thing.
اندک اندک میستانند آن جمال ** اندک اندک خشک میگردد نهال
Little by little they take away that beauty: little by little the sapling withers.
رو نعمره ننکسه بخوان ** دل طلب کن دل منه بر استخوان715
Go, recite (the text) to whom so We grant length of days, him We cause to decline. Seek the heart (spirit), set not thy heart on bones;
کان جمال دل جمال باقی است ** دولتش از آب حیوان ساقی است
For that beauty of the heart is the lasting beauty: its fortune gives to drink of the Water of Life.
خود هم او آب است و هم ساقی و مست ** هر سه یک شد چون طلسم تو شکست
Truly it is both the water and the giver of drink and the drunken: all three become one when your talisman is shattered.
آن یکی را تو ندانی از قیاس ** بندگی کن ژاژ کم خا ناشناس
That oneness you cannot know by reasoning. Do service (to God) and refrain from foolish gabble, O undiscerning man!
معنی تو صورت است و عاریت ** بر مناسب شادی و بر قافیت
Your reality is the form and that which is borrowed: you rejoice in what is relative and (secondary like) rhyme.
معنی آن باشد که بستاند ترا ** بینیاز از نقش گرداند ترا720
Reality is that which seizes (enraptures) you and makes you independent of form.
معنی آن نبود که کور و کر کند ** مرد را بر نقش عاشقتر کند
Reality is not that which makes blind and deaf and causes a man to be more in love with form.
کور را قسمت خیال غم فزاست ** بهرهی چشم این خیالات فناست
The portion of the blind is the fancy that increases pain; the share of the (spiritual) eye is these fancies (ideas) of dying to self (faná).
حرف قرآن را ضریران معدناند ** خر نبینند و به پالان بر زنند
The blind are a mine (full) of the letter of the Qur’án: they do not see the ass, and (only) cling to the pack-saddle.
چون تو بینایی پی خر رو که جست ** چند پالان دوزی ای پالان پرست
Since you have sight, go after the ass which has jumped (away from you): how long (will you persist in) stitching the saddle, O saddle-worshipper?
خر چو هست آید یقین پالان ترا ** کم نگردد نان چو باشد جان ترا725
When the ass is there, the saddle will certainly be yours: bread does not fail when you have the (vital) spirit.
پشت خر دکان و مال و مکسب است ** در قلبت مایهی صد قالب است
(On) the back of the ass is shop and wealth and gain; the pearl of your heart is the stock (which provides wealth) for a hundred bodies.
خر برهنه بر نشین ای بو الفضول ** خر برهنه نه که راکب شد رسول
Mount the ass bare-backed, O busybody: did not the Prophet ride the ass bare-backed?
النبی قد رکب معروریا ** و النبی قیل سافر ماشیا
The Prophet rode (his beast) bare-backed; and the Prophet, it is said, journeyed on foot.
شد خر نفس تو بر میخیش بند ** چند بگریزد ز کار و بار چند
The ass, your fleshly soul, has gone off; tie it to a peg. How long will it run away from work and burden, how long?
بار صبر و شکر او را بردنی است ** خواه در صد سال و خواهی سی و بیست730
It must bear the burden of patience and thanksgiving, whether for a hundred years or for thirty or twenty.
هیچ وازر وزر غیری بر نداشت ** هیچ کس ندرود تا چیزی نکاشت
None that is laden supported another's load; none reaped until he sowed something.
طمع خام است آن مخور خام ای پسر ** خام خوردن علت آرد در بشر
’Tis a raw (absurd) hope; eat not what is raw, O son: eating raw brings illness to men.
کان فلانی یافت گنجی ناگهان ** من همان خواهم نه کار و نه دکان
(Do not say to yourself), “So-and-so suddenly found a treasure; I would like the same: neither work nor shop (for me)!”
کار بخت است آن و آن هم نادر است ** کسب باید کرد تا تن قادر است
That (discovery of treasure) is Fortune's doing (a piece of luck), and moreover it is rare: one must earn a living so long as the body is able.
کسب کردن گنج را مانع کی است ** پا مکش از کار آن خود در پی است735
How does earning a livelihood prevent the (discovery of) treasure? Do not retire from work: that (treasure), indeed, is (following) behind (the work).
تا نگردی تو گرفتار اگر ** که اگر این کردمی یا آن دگر
See that you are not made captive by “if,” saying, “If I had done this or the other (thing),”