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آن جوادی که جمادی را بداد ** این خبرها وین امانت وین سداد
- The Bounteous One who gave to an inanimate thing these informations and this faithfulness and this righteousness,
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مر جمادی را کند فضلش خبیر ** عاقلان را کرده قهر او ضریر
- His grace makes an inanimate thing informed, (while) His wrath makes blind the men of understanding.
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جان و دل را طاقت آن جوش نیست ** با که گویم در جهان یک گوش نیست
- Soul and heart cannot endure that ferment: to whom shall I speak? There is not in the world a single ear (capable of apprehension).
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هر کجا گوشی بد از وی چشم گشت ** هر کجا سنگی بد از وی یشم گشت 515
- Wherever there was an ear, through Him it became an eye; wherever there was a stone, through Him it became a jasper.
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کیمیا ساز است چه بود کیمیا ** معجزه بخش است چه بود سیمیا
- He is an alchemist—what is alchemy (compared with His action)? He is a giver of miracles (to prophets)—what is magic (compared with these miracles)?
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این ثنا گفتن ز من ترک ثناست ** کین دلیل هستی و هستی خطاست
- This uttering of praise (to Him) is (really) the omission of praise on my part, for this (praise) is a proof of (my) being, and being is a sin.
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پیش هست او بباید نیست بود ** چیست هستی پیش او کور و کبود
- It behoves (us) to be not-being in the presence of His Being: in His presence what is (our) being? Blind and blue.
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گر نبودی کور از او بگداختی ** گرمی خورشید را بشناختی
- Were it not blind it would have been melted (consumed) by Him: it would have known the heat of (the Divine) sun;
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ور نبودی او کبود از تعزیت ** کی فسردی همچو یخ این ناحیت 520
- And were it not blue from mourning, how would this region (of phenomenal existence) have (remained) frozen like ice?
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بیان خسارت وزیر در این مکر
- Setting forth how the vizier incurred perdition (by engaging) in this plot.
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همچو شه نادان و غافل بد وزیر ** پنجه میزد با قدیم ناگزیر
- The vizier was ignorant and heedless, like the (Jewish) king: he was wrestling with the eternal and inevitable,
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با چنان قادر خدایی کز عدم ** صد چو عالم هست گرداند به دم
- With a God so mighty that in a moment He causes a hundred worlds like ours to come into existence from non-existence:
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صد چو عالم در نظر پیدا کند ** چون که چشمت را به خود بینا کند
- A hundred worlds like ours He displays to the sight, when He makes your eye seeing by (the light of) Himself.
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گر جهان پیشت بزرگ و بیبنی است ** پیش قدرت ذره ای میدان که نیست
- If the world appears to you vast and bottomless, know that to Omnipotence it is not (so much as) an atom.
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این جهان خود حبس جانهای شماست ** هین روید آن سو که صحرای شماست 525
- This world, indeed, is the prison of your souls: oh, go in yonder direction, for there lies your open country.
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این جهان محدود آن خود بی حد است ** نقش و صورت پیش ٱن معنی سد است
- This world is finite, and truly that (other) is infinite: image and form are a barrier to that Reality.
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صد هزاران نیزهی فرعون را ** در شکست از موسیی با یک عصا
- The myriads of Pharaoh's lances were shattered by (the hand of) Moses (armed) with a single staff.
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صد هزاران طب جالینوس بود ** پیش عیسی و دمش افسوس بود
- Myriads were the therapeutic arts of Galen: before Jesus and his (life-giving) breath they were a laughing-stock.
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صد هزاران دفتر اشعار بود ** پیش حرف امیی آن عار بود
- Myriads were the books of (pre-Islamic) poems: at the word of an illiterate (prophet) they were (put to) shame.
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با چنین غالب خداوندی کسی ** چون نمیرد گر نباشد او خسی 530
- (Confronted) with such an all-conquering Lord, how should any one not die (to self), unless he be a vile wretch?
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بس دل چون کوه را انگیخت او ** مرغ زیرک با دو پا آویخت او
- Many a mind (strong and firm) as a mountain did He uproot; the cunning bird He hung up by its two feet.
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فهم و خاطر تیز کردن نیست راه ** جز شکسته مینگیرد فضل شاه
- To sharpen the intelligence and wits is not the (right) way: none but the broken (in spirit) wins the favour of the King.
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ای بسا گنج آگنان کنج کاو ** کان خیال اندیش را شد ریش گاو
- Oh, many the amassers of treasure, digging holes (in search of treasure), who became an ox's beard (dupe) to that vain schemer (the vizier)!
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گاو که بود تا تو ریش او شوی ** خاک چه بود تا حشیش او شوی
- Who is the ox that you should become his beard? What is earth that you should become its stubble?
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چون زنی از کار بد شد روی زرد ** مسخ کرد او را خدا و زهره کرد 535
- When a woman became pale-faced (ashamed) of (her) wickedness, God metamorphosed her and made her Zuhra (the planet Venus).
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عورتی را زهره کردن مسخ بود ** خاک و گل گشتن نه مسخ است ای عنود
- To make a woman Zuhra was metamorphosis: is it not metamorphosis to become earth and clay, O contumacious one?