Thou wilt be made verdure, thou wilt be made fresh anew, if thou become the dust of the horse of a Gabriel—
سبزه‌ی جان‌بخش که آن را سامری ** کرد در گوساله تا شد گوهری
The life-giving verdure which Sámirí put into the (golden) calf, so that it became endowed with the (vital) essence.
جان گرفت و بانگ زد زان سبزه او ** آنچنان بانگی که شد فتنه‌ی عدو
From that verdure it took life and bellowed—such a bellowing as confounded the foe.
گر امین آیید سوی اهل راز ** وا رهید از سر کله مانند باز3335
If ye come loyally to the possessors of the mystery, ye will be freed from the hood, like a falcon—
سر کلاه چشم‌بند گوش‌بند ** که ازو بازست مسکین و نژند
The hood that binds eye and ear, whereby the falcon is (made) wretched and abject.
زان کله مر چشم بازان را سدست ** که همه میلش سوی جنس خودست
The hood is (placed as) a blind on the eyes of falcons because its (the falcon's) whole desire is for its own kind.
چون برید از جنس با شه گشت یار ** بر گشاید چشم او را بازدار
When it has been severed from its kind, it associates with the king: the falconer unveils its eye.
راند دیوان را حق از مرصاد خویش ** عقل جزوی را ز استبداد خویش
God drove the devils from His place of watch, (He drove) the particular intellect from its autonomy,
که سری کم کن نه‌ای تو مستبد ** بلک شاگرد دلی و مستعد3340
Saying, “Do not domineer: thou art not autonomous; nay, thou art the pupil of the heart and predisposed (to learn from it).
رو بر دل رو که تو جزو دلی ** هین که بنده‌ی پادشاه عادلی
Go to the heart, go, for thou art a part of the heart: take heed, for thou art a slave of the just King.”
بندگی او به از سلطانیست ** که انا خیر دم شیطانیست
To be His slave is better than being a sovereign, for “I am better” is the word of Satan.
فرق بین و برگزین تو ای حبیس ** بندگی آدم از کبر بلیس
Do thou see the distinction and pick out (choose by preference), O prisoner, the slavery of Adam from the pride of Iblís.
گفت آنک هست خورشید ره او ** حرف طوبی هر که ذلت نفسه
He who is the Sun of the Way uttered the saying, “Good (túbá) betide every one whose carnal soul is abased!”
سایه‌ی طوبی ببین وخوش بخسپ ** سر بنه در سایه بی‌سرکش بخسپ3345
Behold the shade of Túbá (the tree in Paradise) and sleep well; lay thy head in the shade and sleep without lifting thy head (haughtily).
ظل ذلت نفسه خوش مضجعیست ** مستعد آن صفا و مهجعیست
The shade of (one) “whose carnal soul is abased” is a pleasant place for reclining: it is a (good) sleeping-place for him that is predisposed to that (spiritual) purity.
گر ازین سایه روی سوی منی ** زود طاغی گردی و ره گم کنی
If thou go from this shade towards egoism, thou wilt soon become disobedient (to God) and lose the way.
بیان آنک یا ایها الذین آمنوا لا تقدموا بین یدی الله و رسوله چون نبی نیستی ز امت باش چونک سلطان نه‌ای رعیت باش پس رو خاموش باش از خود زحمتی و رایی متراش
Explaining (the Verse), "O ye that believe, do not put (yourselves) forward in the presence of God and His Apostle." Since thou art not the Prophet, be one of the religious community; since thou art not the sovereign, be a subject.
پس برو خاموش باش از انقیاد ** زیر ظل امر شیخ و اوستاد
Go therefore, be silent in submission beneath the shade of the command of the Shaykh and Master;
ورنه گر چه مستعد و قابلی ** مسخ گردی تو ز لاف کاملی
Otherwise, though thou art predisposed and capable, thou wilt become deformed through boasting of (thy) perfection.
هم ز استعداد وا مانی اگر ** سر کشی ز استاد راز و با خبر3350
Thou wilt be deprived even of (thy good) predisposition, if thou rebel against the Master of the mystery who is endowed with knowledge.
صبر کن در موزه دوزی تو هنوز ** ور بوی بی‌صبر گردی پاره‌دوز
Do thou still have patience in cobbling; for if thou be impatient, thou wilt become a rag-stitcher.
کهنه‌دوزان گر بدیشان صبر و حلم ** جمله نودوزان شدندی هم به علم
If the stitchers of old clothes had patience and forbearance, all of them too would become stitchers of new garments through (acquisition of) knowledge.
بس بکوشی و بخر از کلال ** هم تو گویی خویش کالعقل عقال
Thou strivest much, and at last even thou thyself sayest in weariness that the intellect is a fetter,
هم‌چو آن مرد مفلسف روز مرگ ** عقل را می‌دید بس بی‌بال و برگ
Like the philosopher (who) on the day of his death perceived his intellect to be very poor and feeble,
بی‌غرض می‌کرد آن دم اعتراف ** کز ذکاوت راندیم اسپ از گزاف3355
And in that hour disinterestedly confessed (the truth), saying, “(Impelled) by acuteness of mind we galloped in vain.
از غروری سر کشیدیم از رجال ** آشنا کردیم در بحر خیال
In delusion we drew (scornfully) away from the holy men, we swam in the sea of phantasy.”
آشنا هیچست اندر بحر روح ** نیست اینجا چاره جز کشتی نوح
In the spiritual Sea swimming is naught (of no avail): here is no resource but the ship (ark) of Noah.
این چنین فرمود این شاه رسل ** که منم کشتی درین دریای کل
Thus said that king of the prophets, “I am the ship in this universal Sea,
یا کسی کو در بصیرتهای من ** شد خلیفه‌ی راستی بر جای من
Or that person who, in respect of my (inward) clairvoyances, has become a true vicegerent in my stead.”
کشتی نوحیم در دریا که تا ** رو نگردانی ز کشتی ای فتی3360
We (saints) are the ship (ark) of Noah in the Sea, in order that thou mayst not turn thy face away from the ship, O youth.
هم‌چو کنعان سوی هر کوهی مرو ** از نبی لا عاصم الیوم شنو
Go not, like Canaan, to every mountain: hear from the Qur’án (the warning), “There is naught that will protect (thee) to-day.”
می‌نماید پست این کشتی ز بند ** می‌نماید کوه فکرت بس بلند
This ship, because of the bandage (on thy vision), seems to thee low, (while) the mountain of (intellectual) thought seems very high.
پست منگر هان و هان این پست را ** بنگر آن فضل حق پیوست را
Beware, beware! Do not regard this “low” with contempt: regard the grace of God that is attached (to it).
در علو کوه فکرت کم نگر ** که یکی موجش کند زیر و زبر
Do not regard the height of the mountain of thought, for a single wave turns it upside down.
گر تو کنعانی نداری باورم ** گر دو صد چندین نصیحت پرورم3365
If thou art (like) Canaan, thou wilt not believe me though I foster (for thy sake) two hundred times as many counsels.
گوش کنعان کی پذیرد این کلام ** که برو مهر خدایست و ختام
How should Canaan's ear accept these words? for God's seal and signet is upon it.
کی گذارد موعظه بر مهر حق ** کی بگرداند حدث حکم سبق
How should admonition pass through God's seal? How should the new (admonition) avert the (eternal) pre-ordainment?
لیک می‌گویم حدیث خوش‌پیی ** بر امید آنک تو کنعان نه‌ای
But I am telling the news of good fortune in the hope that thou art not (like) Canaan.
آخر این اقرار خواهی کرد هین ** هم ز اول روز آخر را ببین
Thou wilt make this confession at last. Hark, from the first day do thou behold the last!
می‌توانی دید آخر را مکن ** چشم آخربینت را کور کهن3370
Thou canst see the end: do not make blind and old thine eye that sees the end.
هر که آخربین بود مسعودوار ** نبودش هر دم ز ره رفتن عثار
Whosoever is blessedly a seer of the end will never stumble in wayfaring.
گر نخواهی هر دمی این خفت‌خیز ** کن ز خاک پایی مردی چشم تیز
Unless thou desire this incessant lying down and rising up (this stumbling on the way), sharpen thine eye with the dust on the foot of a holy man.
کحل دیده ساز خاک پاش را ** تا بیندازی سر اوباش را
Make the dust of his foot collyrium for thine eye, that thou mayst strike off the head of the blackguards;
که ازین شاگردی و زین افتقار ** سوزنی باشی شوی تو ذوالفقار
For through this pupilage and this poverty (of spirit), (though) thou be (as) a needle, thou wilt become (a trenchant sword like) Dhu ’l-faqár.
سرمه کن تو خاک هر بگزیده را ** هم بسوزد هم بسازد دیده را3375
Use the dust of every elect one as collyrium: it will both burn the eye and do it good.
چشم اشتر زان بود بس نوربار ** کو خورد از بهر نور چشم خار
The eye of the camel is very luminous because he (the camel) eats thorns for the sake of (increasing) the light of his eye.
قصه‌ی شکایت استر با شتر کی من بسیار در رو می‌افتم در راه رفتن تو کم در روی می‌آیی این چراست و جواب گفتن شتر او را
Story of the mule's complaining to the camel (and saying), "I often fall on my face when going along, while you seldom do so: why is this?" and the camel's answer to him.
اشتری را دید روزی استری ** چونک با او جمع شد در آخری
One day a mule saw a camel, since he had been put into a stable with him.
گفت من بسیار می‌افتم برو ** در گریوه و راه و در بازار و کو
He (the mule) said, “I often fall on my face in hill and road and in market and street.
خاصه از بالای که تا زیر کوه ** در سر آیم هر زمانی از شکوه
Particularly (in descending) from the top of the mountain to the bottom I come down on my head every moment from terror.
کم همی‌افتی تو در رو بهر چیست ** یا مگر خود جان پاکت دولتیست3380
Thou dost not fall on thy face: why is it? Or maybe in sooth thy pure spirit is destined to felicity.
در سر آیم هر دم و زانو زنم ** پوز و زانو زان خطا پر خون کنم
I come down on my head every instant and strike my knees (on the ground): by that slipping I make muzzle and knees all bloody.