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دسته گل بستم و بردم به پیش ** هر گلی چون خار گشت و نوش نیش
- I twined a handful of roses and carried it to them: every rose became as a thorn, and the honey turned to poison.
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آن نصیب جان بیخویشان بود ** چونک با خویشاند پیدا کی شود
- That (pure wine) is the portion allotted to the selfless: since they are with themselves (not freed from self), how should it be shown (to them)?
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خفتهی بیدار باید پیش ما ** تا به بیداری ببیند خوابها
- With us, one must needs be a waking sleeper, that in the state of wakefulness he may dream dreams.”
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دشمن این خواب خوش شد فکر خلق ** تا نخسپد فکرتش بستست حلق 1115
- Thought of created things is an enemy to this sweet (waking) sleep: until his (any one's) thought is asleep, his throat is shut.
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حیرتی باید که روبد فکر را ** خورده حیرت فکر را و ذکر را
- A (mystical) bewilderment is needed to sweep (such) thought away: bewilderment devours (all) thought and recollection.
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هر که کاملتر بود او در هنر ** او بمعنی پس بصورت پیشتر
- The more perfect he is in (worldly) science, the more backward he is in reality and the more forward in appearance.
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راجعون گفت و رجوع این سان بود ** که گله وا گردد و خانه رود
- He (God) hath said, “(Verily, to Him we are) returning”; and the return is in the same wise as a herd turns back and goes home.
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چونک واگردید گله از ورود ** پس فتد آن بز که پیش آهنگ بود
- When the herd has turned back from (after) going down to water, the goat that was the leader (now) falls behind (becomes the hindmost),
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پیش افتد آن بز لنگ پسین ** اضحک الرجعی وجوه العابسین 1120
- And the lame hindmost goat is now in front: the return caused the faces to laugh of them that were frowning (before).
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از گزافه کی شدند این قوم لنگ ** فخر را دادند و بخریدند ننگ
- How did this party (the prophets and saints) become lame and give up glory and purchase ignominy in vain?
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پا شکسته میروند این قوم حج ** از حرج راهیست پنهان تا فرج
- This party go on the pilgrimage (to Reality) with broken legs, (because) there is a secret way from straitness to ease.
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دل ز دانشها بشستند این فریق ** زانک این دانش نداند آن طریق
- This company washed their hearts (clean) of (the exoteric) kinds of knowledge, because this knowledge does not know that Way.
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دانشی باید که اصلش زان سرست ** زانک هر فرعی به اصلش رهبرست
- (In order to tread this Way) one needs a knowledge whereof the root is Yonder, inasmuch as every branch is a guide to its root.
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هر پری بر عرض دریا کی پرد ** تا لدن علم لدنی میبرد 1125
- How should every wing fly across the breadth of the Sea? (Only) the esoteric knowledge will bear (thee) to the Presence (of God).
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پس چرا علمی بیاموزی به مرد ** کش بباید سینه را زان پاک کرد
- Why, then, should you teach a man the knowledge of which it behoves him to purify his breast?
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پس مجو پیشی ازین سر لنگ باش ** وقت وا گشتن تو پیش آهنگ باش
- Therefore do not seek to be in front: be lame on this side, and be the leader at the moment of return.
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آخرون السابقون باش ای ظریف ** بر شجر سابق بود میوهی طریف
- O clever one, be thou (according to the Prophet's saying, “We are) the hindmost and the foremost”: the fresh fruit is prior to the tree.
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گرچه میوه آخر آید در وجود ** اولست او زانک او مقصود بود
- Although the fruit comes last into being, it is the first, because it was the object.
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چون ملایک گوی لا علم لنا ** تا بگیرد دست تو علمتنا 1130
- Say, like the angels, “We have no knowledge,” to the end that “Thou hast taught us” may take thy hand (come to thy aid).
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گر درین مکتب ندانی تو هجا ** همچو احمد پری از نور حجی
- If in this school thou dost not know the alphabet, (yet) thou art filled, like Ahmad (Mohammed), with the light of Reason.
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گر نباشی نامدار اندر بلاد ** گم نهای الله اعلم بالعباد
- If thou art not famous in the world, (yet) thou art not lost: God knoweth best concerning His servants.
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اندر آن ویران که آن معروف نیست ** از برای حفظ گنجینهی زریست
- A treasure of gold is (hidden), for safety's sake, in a desolate spot that is not well-known.
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موضع معروف کی بنهند گنج ** زین قبل آمد فرج در زیر رنج
- How should they deposit the treasure in a well-known place? On this account it is said, “Joy is (hidden) beneath sorrow.”
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خاطر آرد بس شکال اینجا ولیک ** بسکلد اشکال را استور نیک 1135
- Here the mind may bring (suggest) many difficulties, but a good beast will break the tether.
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هست عشقش آتشی اشکالسوز ** هر خیالی را بروبد نور روز
- His (God's) love is a fire that consumes difficulties: the daylight sweeps away every phantom.