ما چو طفلانیم و ما را دایه تو ** بر سر ما گستران آن سایه تو555
We are as children and thou art our nurse: do thou spread over us that shadow (of thy protection).”
گفت جانم از محبان دور نیست ** لیک بیرون آمدن دستور نیست
He said, “My soul is not far from them that love (me), but there is no permission to come forth.”
آن امیران در شفاعت آمدند ** و آن مریدان در شناعت آمدند
Those amírs came for intercession, and the disciples came in reproach,
کاین چه بد بختی است ما را ای کریم ** از دل و دین مانده ما بیتو یتیم
Saying, “O noble sir, what a misfortune is this for us! Without thee we are left orphaned (deprived) of our hearts and our religion.
تو بهانه میکنی و ما ز درد ** میزنیم از سوز دل دمهای سرد
Thou art making a pretence while we in grief are heaving cold (fruitless) sighs from the burning heat of our hearts.
ما به گفتار خوشت خو کردهایم ** ما ز شیر حکمت تو خوردهایم560
We have become accustomed to thy sweet discourse, we have drunk of the milk of thy wisdom.
الله الله این جفا با ما مکن ** خیر کن امروز را فردا مکن
Allah! Allah! do not thou (O vizier) treat us with such cruelty: show kindness to-day, do not (put off till) to-morrow.
میدهد دل مر ترا کاین بیدلان ** بیتو گردند آخر از بیحاصلان
Does thy heart give to thee (consent) that these who have lost their hearts (to thee) should at last, being without thee, become (numbered) amongst them that have nothing left?
جمله در خشکی چو ماهی میتپند ** آب را بگشا ز جو بر دار بند
They all are writhing like fishes on dry land: let loose the water, remove the dam from the stream.
ای که چون تو در زمانه نیست کس ** الله الله خلق را فریاد رس
O thou like whom there is none in the world, for God's sake, for God's sake, come to the aid of thy people!”
دفع گفتن وزیر مریدان را
How the vizier refused the request of the disciples.
گفت هان ای سخرگان گفتوگو ** وعظ و گفتار زبان و گوش جو565
He said: “Beware, O ye enslaved by words and talk, ye who seek admonition and discourse (conveyed) by the tongue and (through the) ear.
پنبه اندر گوش حس دون کنید ** بند حس از چشم خود بیرون کنید
Put cotton-wool in the ear of the low (physical) sense, take off the bandage of (that) sense from your eyes!
پنبهی آن گوش سر گوش سر است ** تا نگردد این کر آن باطن کر است
The ear of the head is the cotton-wool of the ear of the conscience: until the former becomes deaf, that inward (ear) is deaf.
بیحس و بیگوش و بیفکرت شوید ** تا خطاب ارجعی را بشنوید
Become without sense and without ear and without thought, that ye may hear the call (of God to the soul), ‘Return!’”
تا به گفتوگوی بیداری دری ** تو ز گفت خواب بویی کی بری
So long as thou art (engaged) in the conversation of wakefulness, how wilt thou catch any scent of the conversation of sleep?
سیر بیرونی است قول و فعل ما ** سیر باطن هست بالای سما570
Our speech and action is the exterior journey: the interior journey is above the sky.
حس خشکی دید کز خشکی بزاد ** عیسی جان پای بر دریا نهاد
The (physical) sense saw (only) dryness, because it was born of dryness (earth): the Jesus of the spirit set foot on the sea.
سیر جسم خشک بر خشکی فتاد ** سیر جان پا در دل دریا نهاد
The journey of the dry body befell on dry land, (but) the journey of the spirit set foot (took place) in the heart of the sea.
چون که عمر اندر ره خشکی گذشت ** گاه کوه و گاه صحرا گاه دشت
Since thy life has passed in travelling on land, now mountain, now river, now desert,
آب حیوان از کجا خواهی تو یافت ** موج دریا را کجا خواهی شکافت
Whence wilt thou gain the Water of Life? Where wilt thou cleave the waves of the Sea?
موج خاکی وهم و فهم و فکر ماست ** موج آبی محو و سکر است و فناست575
The waves of earth are our imagination and understanding and thought; the waves of water are (mystical) self-effacement and intoxication and death (faná).
تا در این سکری از آن سکری تو دور ** تا از این مستی از آن جامی تو دور
Whilst thou art in this (sensual) intoxication, thou art far from that (mystical) intoxication; whilst thou art drunken with this, thou art blind to that cup.
گفتوگوی ظاهر آمد چون غبار ** مدتی خاموش خو کن هوش دار
Outward speech and talk is as dust: do thou for a time make a habit of silence. Take heed!
مکرر کردن مریدان که خلوت را بشکن
How the disciples repeated their request that he should interrupt his seclusion.
جمله گفتند ای حکیم رخنه جو ** این فریب و این جفا با ما مگو
They all said: “O sage who seekest a crevice (means of evasion), say not to us this (word of) guile and harshness.
چار پا را قدر طاقت بار نه ** بر ضعیفان قدر قوت کار نه
Lay on the beast a burden in proportion to its endurance, lay on the weak a task in proportion to their strength.