گه گه آن بی‌صورت از کتم عدم ** مر صور را رو نماید از کرم
Sometimes the Formless One graciously shows His face to the forms from the concealment (veil) of non-existence,
تا مدد گیرد ازو هر صورتی ** از کمال و از جمال و قدرتی
In order that every form may thereby be replenished with some perfection and beauty and power.
باز بی‌صورت چو پنهان کرد رو ** آمدند از بهر کد در رنگ و بو 3745
When, again, the Formless One has hidden His face, they come to beg in (the realm of) colour and perfume.
صورتی از صورت دیگر کمال ** گر بجوید باشد آن عین ضلال
If one form seek perfection from another form, ’tis the quintessence of error.
پس چه عرضه می‌کنی ای بی‌گهر ** احتیاج خود به محتاجی دگر
Why, then, O worthless man, are you submitting your need to another needy (creature)?
چون صور بنده‌ست بر یزدان مگو ** ظن مبر صورت به تشبیهش مجو
Inasmuch as (all) forms are slaves (to God), do not say or deem that form is applicable to God: do not seek Him by tashbíh (likening Him to His creatures).
در تضرع جوی و در افنای خویش ** کز تفکر جز صور ناید به پیش
Seek (Him) in self-abasement and in self-extinction, for nothing but forms is produced by thinking.
ور ز غیر صورتت نبود فره ** صورتی کان بی‌تو زاید در تو به 3750
And if you derive no advantage (comfort) except from form, (then) the form that comes to birth within you involuntarily is the best.
صورت شهری که آنجا می‌روی ** ذوق بی‌صورت کشیدت ای روی
(Suppose it is) the form of a city to which you are going: you are drawn (thither) by a formless feeling of pleasure, O dependent one;
پس به معنی می‌روی تا لامکان ** که خوشی غیر مکانست و زمان
Therefore you are really going to that which has no locality, for pleasure is (something) different from place and time.
صورت یاری که سوی او شوی ** از برای مونسی‌اش می‌روی
(Suppose it is) the form of a friend to whom you would go: you are going for the sake of enjoying his society;
پس بمعنی سوی بی‌صورت شدی ** گرچه زان مقصود غافل آمدی
Therefore in reality you go to the formless (world), though you are unaware of that (being the) object (of your journey).
پس حقیقت حق بود معبود کل ** کز پی ذوقست سیران سبل 3755
In truth, then, God is worshipped by all, since (all) wayfaring is for the sake of the pleasure (of which He is the source).
لیک بعضی رو سوی دم کرده‌اند ** گرچه سر اصلست سر گم کرده‌اند
But some have set their face towards the tail and have lost the Head, although the Head is the principal;
لیک آن سر پیش این ضالان گم ** می‌دهد داد سری از راه دم
But (nevertheless) that Head is bestowing on these lost and erring ones the bounty proper to Headship by way of the tail.
آن ز سر می‌یابد آن داد این ز دم ** قوم دیگر پا و سر کردند گم
That one obtains the bounty from the Head, this one from the tail; another company (of mystics) have lost (both) foot and head.
چونک گم شد جمله جمله یافتند ** از کم آمد سوی کل بشتافتند
Since all has been lost, they have gained all: through dwindling away (to naught) they have sped towards the Whole.
دیدن ایشان در قصر این قلعه‌ی ذات الصور نقش روی دختر شاه چین را و بیهوش شدن هر سه و در فتنه افتادن و تفحص کردن کی این صورت کیست
How in the pavilion of the fortress adorned with pictures they (the princes) saw a portrait of the daughter of the King of China and how all three lost their senses and fell into distraction and made inquiries, asking, “Whose portrait is this?”
این سخن پایان ندارد آن گروه ** صورتی دیدند با حسن و شکوه 3760
This topic is endless. The company (of three) espied a beauteous and majestic portrait.
خوب‌تر زان دیده بودند آن فریق ** لیک زین رفتند در بحر عمیق
The (travelling) party had seen (pictures) more beautiful than that, but at (the sight of) this one they were plunged in the deep sea,
Because opium came to them in this cup: the cups are visible, but the opium is unseen.
کرد فعل خویش قلعه‌ی هش‌ربا ** هر سه را انداخت در چاه بلا
The fortress, (named) the destroyer of reason, wrought its work: it cast them, all three, into the pit of tribulation.
تیر غمزه دوخت دل را بی‌کمان ** الامان و الامان ای بی‌امان
Without a bow the arrow-like glances (of Love) pierce the heart—mercy, mercy, O merciless one!
قرنها را صورت سنگین بسوخت ** آتشی در دین و دلشان بر فروخت 3765
(Adoration of) a stone image consumed the (past) generations and kindled a fire (of love for it) in their religion and their hearts.
چونک روحانی بود خود چون بود ** فتنه‌اش هر لحظه دیگرگون بود
When it (the image) is spiritual, how (ravishing) must it be! Its fascination changes at every moment.
عشق صورت در دل شه‌زادگان ** چون خلش می‌کرد مانند سنان
Since love of the pictured form was stabbing the hearts of the princes like a spear-point,
اشک می‌بارید هر یک هم‌چو میغ ** دست می‌خایید و می‌گفت ای دریغ
Each (of them) was shedding tears, like a cloud, and gnawing his hands and crying, “Oh, alas!
ما کنون دیدیم شه ز آغاز دید ** چندمان سوگند داد آن بی‌ندید
Now we see (what) the King saw at the beginning. How often did that peerless one adjure us!”
انبیا را حق بسیارست از آن ** که خبر کردند از پایانمان 3770
The prophets have conferred a great obligation (on us) because they have made us aware of the end,
کاینچ می‌کاری نروید جز که خار ** وین طرف پری نیابی زو مطار
Saying, “That which thou art sowing will produce naught but thorns; and (if) thou fly in this (worldly) direction thou wilt find there no room to fly (beyond).
تخم از من بر که تا ریعی دهد ** با پر من پر که تیر آن سو جهد
Get the seed from me, that it may yield a (good) crop; fly with my wings, that the arrow may speed Yonder.
تو ندانی واجبی آن و هست ** هم تو گویی آخر آن واجب بدست
(If) thou dost not recognise the necessity and (real) existence of that (flight to God), yet in the end thou wilt confess that it was necessary.”
او توست اما نه این تو آن توست ** که در آخر واقف بیرون‌شوست
He (the prophet) is thou, but not this (unreal) “thou”: (he is) that “thou” which in the end is conscious of escape (from the world of illusion).
توی آخر سوی توی اولت ** آمدست از بهر تنبیه و صلت 3775
Thy last (unreal) “thou” has come to thy first (real) “thou” to receive admonition and gifts.
توی تو در دیگری آمد دفین ** من غلام مرد خودبینی چنین
Thy (real) “thou” is buried in another (unreal “thou”): I am the (devoted) slave of a man who thus (truly) sees himself.
آنچ در آیینه می‌بیند جوان ** پیر اندر خشت بیند بیش از آن
That which the youth sees in the mirror the Elder sees beforehand in the (crude iron) brick.
ز امر شاه خویش بیرون آمدیم ** با عنایات پدر یاغی شدیم
(The princes said), “We have transgressed the command of our King, we have rebelled against the favours of our father.
سهل دانستیم قول شاه را ** وان عنایت‌های بی اشباه را
We have lightly esteemed the King's word and those incomparable favours.
نک در افتادیم در خندق همه ** کشته و خسته‌ی بلا بی ملحمه 3780
Lo, we all are fallen into the moat, killed and wounded by affliction without combat.
تکیه بر عقل خود و فرهنگ خویش ** بودمان تا این بلا آمد به پیش
We relied on our own intelligence and wisdom, so that this tribulation has come to pass.
بی‌مرض دیدیم خویش و بی ز رق ** آنچنان که خویش را بیمار دق
We regarded ourselves as being without disease and emancipated (from fear of death), just as one suffering from phthisis regards himself.
علت پنهان کنون شد آشکار ** بعد از آنک بند گشتیم و شکار
Now, after we have been made prisoners and a prey, the hidden malady has become apparent.”
سایه‌ی رهبر بهست از ذکر حق ** یک قناعت به که صد لوت و طبق
The shadow (protection) of the (spiritual) Guide is better than praising God (by one's self): a single (feeling of) contentment is better than a hundred viands and trays (of food).
چشم بینا بهتر از سیصد عصا ** چشم بشناسد گهر را از حصا 3785
A seeing eye is better than three hundred (blind men's) staves: the eye knows (can distinguish) pearls from pebbles.
در تفحص آمدند از اندهان ** صورت کی بود عجب این در جهان
(Moved) by sorrows (pains of love) they began to make inquiry, saying, “Who in the world, we wonder, is she of whom this is the portrait?”
بعد بسیاری تفحص در مسیر ** کشف کرد آن راز را شیخی بصیر
After much inquiry in (the course of their) travel, a Shaykh endowed with insight disclosed the mystery,
نه از طریق گوش بل از وحی هوش ** رازها بد پیش او بی روی‌پوش
Not (verbally) by way of the ear, but (silently) by inspiration (derived) from Reason: to him (all) mysteries were unveiled.
گفت نقش رشک پروینست این ** صورت شه‌زاده‌ی چینست این
He said, “This is the portrait of (her who is) an object of envy to the Pleiades: this is the picture of the Princess of China.
هم‌چو جان و چون جنین پنهانست او ** در مکتم پرده و ایوانست او 3790
She is hidden like the spirit and like the embryo: she is (kept) in a secret bower and palace.
سوی او نه مرد ره دارد نه زن ** شاه پنهان کرد او را از فتن
Neither man nor woman is admitted to her (presence): the King has concealed her on account of her fascinations.
غیرتی دارد ملک بر نام او ** که نپرد مرغ هم بر بام او
The King has a (great) jealousy for her (good) name, so that not even a bird flies above her roof.”