سایه‌ی شاخ دگر ای نیکبخت ** کی بجنبد گر نجنبد این درخت3645
How should the shadow of the other's (the disciple's) bough move, O fortunate one, if this Tree move not?
باز از حیوان سوی انسانیش ** می‌کشید آن خالقی که دانیش
Again, the Creator, whom thou knowest, was leading him (Man) from the animal (state) towards humanity.
هم‌چنین اقلیم تا اقلیم رفت ** تا شد اکنون عاقل و دانا و زفت
Thus did he advance from clime to clime (from one world of being to another), till he has now become intelligent and wise and mighty.
عقلهای اولینش یاد نیست ** هم ازین عقلش تحول کردنیست
He hath no remembrance of his former intelligences (souls); from this (human) intelligence also there is a migration to be made by him,
تا رهد زین عقل پر حرص و طلب ** صد هزاران عقل بیند بوالعجب
That he may escape from this intelligence full of greed and self-seeking and may behold a hundred thousand intelligences most marvellous.
گر چو خفته گشت و شد ناسی ز پیش ** کی گذارندش در آن نسیان خویش3650
Though he fell asleep and became oblivious of the past, how should they leave him in that self-forgetfulness?
باز از آن خوابش به بیداری کشند ** که کند بر حالت خود ریش‌خند
From that sleep they will bring him back again to wakefulness, that he may mock at his (present) state,
که چه غم بود آنک می‌خوردم به خواب ** چون فراموشم شد احوال صواب
Saying, “What was that sorrow I was suffering in my sleep? How did I forget the states of truth (the real experiences)?
چون ندانستم که آن غم و اعتلال ** فعل خوابست و فریبست و خیال
How did not I know that that sorrow and disease is the effect of sleep and is illusion and phantasy?”
هم‌چنان دنیا که حلم نایمست ** خفته پندارد که این خود دایمست
Even so this world, which is the sleeper's dream: the sleeper fancies that it is really enduring,
تا بر آید ناگهان صبح اجل ** وا رهد از ظلمت ظن و دغل3655
Till on a sudden there shall rise the dawn of Death and he shall be delivered from the darkness of opinion and falsehood.
خنده‌اش گیرد از آن غمهای خویش ** چون ببیند مستقر و جای خویش
(Then) laughter at those sorrows of his will take possession of him when he sees his permanent abode and dwelling-place.
هر چه تو در خواب بینی نیک و بد ** روز محشر یک به یک پیدا شود
Everything good or evil that thou seest in thy sleep will be made manifest, one by one, on the Day of the (Last) Congregation.
آنچ کردی اندرین خواب جهان ** گرددت هنگام بیداری عیان
That which thou didst in this sleep in the (present) world will become evident to thee at the time of awaking.
تا نپنداری که این بد کردنیست ** اندرین خواب و ترا تعبیر نیست
Take care not to imagine that this (which thou hast done) is (only) an evil action committed in this (state of) sleep and that there is no interpretation (thereof) for thee.
بلک این خنده بود گریه و زفیر ** روز تعبیر ای ستمگر بر اسیر3660
Nay, this laughter (of thine) will be tears and moans on the Day of interpretation, O oppressor of the captive!
گریه و درد و غم و زاری خود ** شادمانی دان به بیداری خود
Know that in the hour of thy awakening thy tears and grief and sorrow and lamentation will turn to joy.
ای دریده پوستین یوسفان ** گرگ بر خیزی ازین خواب گران
O thou that hast torn the coat of (many) Josephs, thou wilt arise from this heavy slumber (in the form of) a wolf.
گشته گرگان یک به یک خوهای تو ** می‌درانند از غضب اعضای تو
Thy (evil) dispositions, one by one, having become wolves will tear thy limbs in wrath.
خون نخسپد بعد مرگت در قصاص ** تو مگو که مردم و یابم خلاص
According to (the law of) retaliation, the blood (shed by thee) will not sleep (remain unavenged) after thy death: do not say, “I shall die and obtain release.”
این قصاص نقد حیلت‌سازیست ** پیش زخم آن قصاص این بازیست3665
This immediate retaliation (which is exacted in the present world) is (only) a makeshift: in comparison with the blow of that (future) retaliation this is a (mere) play.
زین لعب خواندست دنیا را خدا ** کین جزا لعبست پیش آن جزا
God hath called the present world a play because this penalty is a play in comparison with that penalty.
این جزا تسکین جنگ و فتنه‌ایست ** آن چو اخصا است و این چون ختنه‌ایست
This penalty is a means of allaying war and civil strife: that one is like a castration, while this one resembles a circumcision.
بیان آنک خلق دوزخ گرسنگانند و نالانند به حق کی روزیهای ما را فربه گردان و زود زاد به ما رسان کی ما را صبر نماند
Explaining that the people of Hell are hungry and make lamentable entreaty to God, saying, "Cause our portions to be fat and let the provender reach us quickly, for we can endure no more."
این سخن پایان ندارد موسیا ** هین رها کن آن خران را در گیا
This discourse hath no end. (God said), “Hark, O Moses, let those asses go to the grass,
تا همه زان خوش علف فربه شوند ** هین که گرگانند ما را خشم‌مند
That they may all be fattened by that goodly fodder. Hark, (let them in), for We have wrathful wolves.
ناله‌ی گرگان خود را موقنیم ** این خران را طعمه‌ی ایشان کنیم3670
We surely know the plaintive cry of Our wolves: We make these asses a means of livelihood for them.
این خران را کیمیای خوش دمی ** از لب تو خواست کردن آدمی
The gracious alchemy breathed from thy lips wished to make these asses human.
تو بسی کردی به دعوت لطف و جود ** آن خران را طالع و روزی نبود
Much kindness and favour didst thou show in calling them (to God), (but) ’twas not the fortune and provision allotted to those asses.
پس فرو پوشان لحاف نعمتی ** تا بردشان زود خواب غفلتی
Therefore let the quilt of bounty cover them, that the slumber of forgetfulness may overtake them speedily,
تا چو بجهند از چنین خواب این رده ** شمع مرده باشد و ساقی شده
So that, when this troop (of asses) shall start up from suchlike slumber, the candle will have been extinguished and the cup-bearer will have gone.
داشت طغیانشان ترا در حیرتی ** پس بنوشند از جزا هم حسرتی3675
Their rebellious disobedience kept thee in a (great) perplexity: therefore they shall suffer in retribution a (great) sorrow,
تا که عدل ما قدم بیرون نهد ** در جزا هر زشت را درخور دهد
To the end that Our justice may step forth and bestow in retribution what is appropriate to every evil-doer;
که آن شهی که می‌ندیدندیش فاش ** بود با ایشان نهان اندر معاش
For the King, whom they were not seeing openly, was (always) with them secretly in their lives.”
چون خرد با تست مشرف بر تنت ** گر چه زو قاصر بود این دیدنت
Inasmuch as the intellect is with thee, overseeing thy body, and though this perception of thine is unable to apprehend it,
نیست قاصر دیدن او ای فلان ** از سکون و جنبشت در امتحان
(Yet) its perception, O such and such, is not unable to apprehend thy motion and rest when it tries,
چه عجب گر خالق آن عقل نیز ** با تو باشد چون نه‌ای تو مستجیز3680
What wonder if the Creator of that intellect too is with thee? How art thou not conceding (the truth of that)?
از خرد غافل شود بر بد تند ** بعد آن عقلش ملامت می‌کند
He (some one) pays no heed to his intellect and embarks on evil; afterwards his intellect rebukes him.
تو شدی غافل ز عقلت عقل نی ** کز حضورستش ملامت کردنی
You forgot your intellect, your intellect did not (forget you), since that act of rebuke is the result of its presence (attention).
گر نبودی حاضر و غافل بدی ** در ملامت کی ترا سیلی زدی
If it had not been present (attentive) and had been heedless, how should it have slapped you in rebuke?
ور ازو غافل نبودی نفس تو ** کی چنان کردی جنون و تفس تو
And if your carnal soul had not been inattentive to it, how should your madness and heat have acted thus?
پس تو و عقلت چو اصطرلاب بود ** زین بدانی قرب خورشید وجود3685
Hence you and your intellect are like the astrolabe: by this means you may know the nearness of the Sun of existence.
قرب بی‌چونست عقلت را به تو ** نیست چپ و راست و پس یا پیش رو
Your intellect is indescribably near to you: it is neither to the left nor to the right nor behind nor in front.
قرب بی‌چون چون نباشد شاه را ** که نیابد بحث عقل آن راه را
How (then) should not the King be indescribably near? for intellectual search cannot find the way (to Him).
نیست آن جنبش که در اصبع تراست ** پیش اصبع یا پسش یا چپ و راست
The motion that you have in your finger is not in front of your finger or behind it or to the left or to the right.
وقت خواب و مرگ از وی می‌رود ** وقت بیداری قرینش می‌شود
At the time of sleep and death it (the motion) goes from it (the finger); at the time of waking it rejoins it.
از چه ره می‌آید اندر اصبعت ** که اصبعت بی او ندارد منفعت3690
By what way doth it come into your finger, (that motion) without which your finger hath no use?
نور چشم و مردمک در دیده‌ات ** از چه ره آمد به غیر شش جهت
The light of the eye and pupil, by what other way than the six directions doth it come into your eye?
عالم خلقست با سوی و جهات ** بی‌جهت دان عالم امر و صفات
The world of creation is endued with (diverse) quarters and directions, (but) know that the world of the (Divine) Command and Attributes is without (beyond) direction.
بی‌جهت دان عالم امر ای صنم ** بی‌جهت‌تر باشد آمر لاجرم
Know, O beloved, that the world of the Command is without direction: of necessity the Commander is (even) more without direction.
بی‌جهت بد عقل و علام البیان ** عقل‌تر از عقل و جان‌تر هم ز جان
The intellect was (ever) without direction, and the Knower of the exposition is more intelligent than intellect and more spiritual even than spirit.