رفت موسی کاتش آرد او به دست ** آتشی دید او که از آتش برست
Moses went to fetch fire: he beheld such a Fire (the Burning Bush) that he escaped from (searching after) fire.
جست عیسی تا رهد از دشمنان ** بردش آن جستن به چارم آسمان
Jesus sprang up, to escape from his enemies: that spring carried him to the Fourth Heaven.
دام آدم خوشهی گندم شده ** تا وجودش خوشهی مردم شده2790
The ear of wheat became a trap for Adam, so that his existence became the wheat-ear (seed and origin) of mankind.
باز آید سوی دام از بهر خور ** ساعد شه یابد و اقبال و فر
The falcon comes to the snare for food: it finds the fore-arm (wrist) of the King and fortune and glory.
طفل شد مکتب پی کسب هنر ** بر امید مرغ با لطف پدر
The child went to school to acquire knowledge, in hope of (getting) its father's pretty bird (as a prize);
پس ز مکتب آن یکی صدری شده ** ماهگانه داده و بدری شده
Then, by (going to) school, that child rose to the top, paid monthly fees (to his teacher), and became perfect (in knowledge).
آمده عباس حرب از بهر کین ** بهر قمع احمد و استیز دین
‘Abbás had come to war for vengeance’ sake, for the purpose of subduing Ahmad (Mohammed) and opposing the (true) religion:
گشته دین را تا قیامت پشت و رو ** در خلافت او و فرزندان او2795
He and his descendants in the Caliphate became a back and front (complete support) to the (true) religion until the Resurrection.
من بر این در طالب چیز آمدم ** صدر گشتم چون به دهلیز آمدم
“I came to this court in quest of wealth: as soon as I entered the portico I became (a spiritual) chief.
آب آوردم به تحفه بهر نان ** بوی نانم برد تا صدر جنان
I brought water as a gift for the sake of (getting) bread: hope of bread led me to the highest place in Paradise.
نان برون راند آدمی را از بهشت ** نان مرا اندر بهشتی در سرشت
Bread drove an Adam forth from Paradise: bread caused me to mix (made me consort) with those who belong to Paradise.
رستم از آب و ز نان همچون ملک ** بیغرض گردم بر این در چون فلک
I have been freed, like the angels, from water and bread (materiality): without (any worldly) object of desire I move round this court, like the (revolving) sphere of heaven.”
بیغرض نبود به گردش در جهان ** غیر جسم و غیر جان عاشقان2800
Nothing in the world is without object (disinterested) in its movement (activity) except the bodies and the souls of (God's) lovers.
در بیان آن که عاشق دنیا بر مثال عاشق دیواری است که بر او تاب آفتاب زند و جهد و جهاد نکرد تا فهم کند که آن تاب و رونق از دیوار نیست از قرص آفتاب است در آسمان چهارم لاجرم کلی دل بر دیوار نهاد چون پرتو آفتاب به آفتاب پیوست او محروم ماند ابدا و حیل بينهم و بين ما يشتهون
Showing that the lover of this world is like the lover of a wall on which the sunbeams strike, who makes no effort and exertion to perceive that the radiance and splendour do not proceed from the wall, but from the orb of the sun in the Fourth Heaven; consequently he sets his whole heart on the wall, and when the sunbeams rejoin the sun (at sunset), he is left for ever in despair: “and a bar is placed between them and that which they desire.”
عاشقان کل نه این عشاق جزو ** ماند از کل آن که شد مشتاق جزو
The lovers of the Whole are not those who love the part: he that longed for the part failed to attain unto the Whole.
چون که جزوی عاشق جزوی شود ** زود معشوقش به کل خود رود
When a part falls in love with a part, the object of its love soon goes (returns) to its own whole.
ریش گاو بندهی غیر آمد او ** غرقه شد کف در ضعیفی در زد او
He (the lover of the particular) became the laughing-stock of another's slave: he became (like a man who was) drowning and clung to some one weak (and powerless to help him).
نیست حاکم تا کند تیمار او ** کار خواجهی خود کند یا کار او
He (the loved slave) possesses no authority, that he should care for him: shall he do his own master's business or his (the lover's)?
مثل عرب إذا زنیت فازن بالحرة و إذا سرقت فاسرق الدرة
The Arabic proverb, “If you commit fornication, commit it with a free woman, and if you steal, steal a pearl.”
فازن بالحرة پی این شد مثل ** فاسرق الدرة بدین شد منتقل2805
Hence (the saying), “Commit fornication with a free woman,” became proverbial; (and the words) “steal a pearl” were transferred (metaphorically) to this (meaning).
بنده سوی خواجه شد او ماند زار ** بوی گل شد سوی گل او ماند خار
The slave (the loved one) went away to his master: he (the lover) was left in misery. The scent of the rose went (back) to the rose: he remained as the thorn.
او بمانده دور از مطلوب خویش ** سعی ضایع رنج باطل پای ریش
He was left far from the object of his desire—his labour lost, his toil useless, his foot wounded,
همچو صیادی که گیرد سایهای ** سایه کی گردد و را سرمایهای
Like the hunter who catches a shadow—how should the shadow become his property?
سایهی مرغی گرفته مرد سخت ** مرغ حیران گشته بر شاخ درخت
The man has grasped tightly the shadow of a bird, (while) the bird on the branch of the tree is fallen into amazement,
کاین مدمغ بر که میخندد عجب ** اینت باطل اینت پوسیده سبب2810
(Thinking), “I wonder who this crack-brained fellow is laughing at? Here's folly for you, here's a rotten cause!”
ور تو گویی جزو پیوستهی کل است ** خار میخور خار مقرون گل است
And if you say that the part is connected with the whole, (then) eat thorns: the thorn is connected with the rose.
جز ز یک رو نیست پیوسته به کل ** ور نه خود باطل بدی بعث رسل
Except from one point of view, it (the part) is not connected with the whole: otherwise, indeed, the mission of the prophets would be vain,