یا در او گنج است و ماری بر کران ** ز انکه نبود گنج زر بیپاسبان
Or whether a treasure is there and a serpent beside it, since a treasure of gold is not without some one to keep watch.
بیتامل او سخن گفتی چنان ** کز پس پانصد تامل دیگران
Without premeditation he (that slave) would speak in such wise as others after five hundred premeditations.
گفتی اندر باطنش دریاستی ** جمله دریا گوهر گویاستی850
You would have said that in his inward part there was a sea, and that the whole sea was pearls of eloquence,
نور هر گوهر کز او تابان شدی ** حق و باطل را از او فرقان شدی
(And that) the light that shone from every pearl became a criterion for distinguishing between truth and falsehood.
نور فرقان فرق کردی بهر ما ** ذره ذره حق و باطل را جدا
(So) would the light of the Criterion (Universal Reason), (if it shone into our hearts), distinguish for us truth and falsehood and separate them mote by mote;
نور گوهر نور چشم ما شدی ** هم سؤال و هم جواب از ما بدی
The light of the (Divine) Pearl would become the light of our eyes: both the question and the answer would be (would come) from us.
چشم کژ کردی دو دیدی قرص ماه ** چون سؤال است این نظر در اشتباه
(But) you have made your eyes awry and seen the moon's disk double: this gazing in perplexity is like the question.
راست گردان چشم را در ماهتاب ** تا یکی بینی تو مه را نک جواب855
Make your eyes straight in the moonshine, so that you may see the moon as one. Lo, (that is) the answer.
فکرتت که کژ مبین نیکو نگر ** هست آن فکرت شعاع آن گهر
Your thought, (namely), "Do not see awry, look well!" is just the light and radiance of that Pearl.
هر جوابی کان ز گوش آید به دل ** چشم گفت از من شنو آن را بهل
Whenever an answer comes to the heart through the ear, the eye says, “Hear it from me; let that (answer given through the ear) alone!”
گوش دلاله ست و چشم اهل وصال ** چشم صاحب حال و گوش اصحاب قال
The ear is a go-between, while the eye is possessed of union (immediate vision); the eye has direct experience (of reality), while the ear has (only) words (doctrine).
در شنود گوش تبدیل صفات ** در عیان دیدها تبدیل ذات
In the ear's hearing there is a transformation of qualities; in the eyes' seeing there is a transformation of essence.
ز آتش ار علمت یقین شد از سخن ** پختگی جو در یقین منزل مکن860
If your knowledge of fire has been turned to certainty by words (alone), seek to be cooked (by the fire itself), and do not abide in the certainty (of knowledge derived from others).
تا نسوزی نیست آن عین الیقین ** این یقین خواهی در آتش در نشین
There is no intuitive (actual) certainty until you burn; (if) you desire this certainty, sit down in the fire.
گوش چون نافذ بود دیده شود ** ور نه قل در گوش پیچیده شود
When the ear is penetrating, it becomes an eye; otherwise, the word (of God) becomes entangled in the ear (and does not reach the heart).
این سخن پایان ندارد باز گرد ** تا که شه با آن غلامانش چه کرد
This discourse hath no end. Turn back, that (we may see) what the King did to those slaves of his.
به راه کردن شاه یکی را از آن دو غلام و از این دیگر پرسیدن
How the King sent away one of the two slaves and interrogated the other.
آن غلامک را چو دید اهل ذکا ** آن دگر را کرد اشارت که بیا
When he saw that that laddie was possessed of keen intelligence, he made a sign to the other to come (to him).
(If) I have called him by (a word which has) the suffix of pity (tenderness), ’tis not to belittle him: if a grandfather say “my sonny,” it is not (in) contempt.
چون بیامد آن دوم در پیش شاه ** بود او گنده دهان دندان سیاه
When the second (slave) came before the King, he had a stinking mouth and black teeth.
گر چه شه ناخوش شد از گفتار او ** جستجویی کرد هم ز اسرار او
Although the King was displeased by his speech, still he made some inquiry concerning his hidden thoughts.
گفت با این شکل و این گند دهان ** دور بنشین لیک آن سو تر مران
He said, “With this aspect and this foul smell of the mouth, sit at a distance, but do not move too far off—
که تو اهل نامه و رقعه بدی ** نه جلیس و یار و هم بقعه بدی
For (hitherto) you have been (with regard to me in the position of) a writer of letters and notes; you have not been a companion and friend and comrade—
تا علاج آن دهان تو کنیم ** تو حبیب و ما طبیب پر فنیم870
That we may treat (and cure) that mouth of yours: you are (now) the beloved (patient), and we are the skilful physician.
بهر کیکی نو گلیمی سوختن ** نیست لایق از تو دیده دوختن
’Tis not fitting to burn a new blanket on account of one flea; (nor would it become me) to shut my eyes to (turn my back on) you (because of superficial faults).
با همه بنشین دو سه دستان بگو ** تا ببینم صورت عقلت نکو
Notwithstanding all (this), sit down and talk on a few topics, that I may well see the form of your mind.”