Much error befell me from (I was greatly deceived by) the worthless pot, because the pot was boiling (while) covered by the lid.
جوش و نوش هرکست گوید بیا ** جوش صدق و جوش تزویر و ریا
The fervour and savour of every one says to you, “Come”— the fervour of sincerity and the fervour of imposture and hypocrisy.
گر نداری بو ز جان روشناس ** رو دماغی دست آور بوشناس
If you have not the scent (discernment derived) from the soul that recognises the face (reality), go, get for yourself a (spiritual) brain (sense) that recognises the scent.
آن دماغی که بر آن گلشن تند ** چشم یعقوبان هم او روشن کند
The brain (sense) that haunts yon Rose-garden—’tis it that makes bright the eyes of (all) Jacobs.
هین بگو احوال آن خسته‌جگر ** کز بخاری دور ماندیم ای پسر
Come now, relate what happened to that heart-sick (youth), for we have left the man of Bukhárá far behind, O son.
یافتن عاشق معشوق را و بیان آنک جوینده یابنده بود کی و من یعمل مثقال ذرة خیرا یره
How the lover found his beloved; and a discourse showing that the seeker is a finder, for he who shall do as much good as the weight of an ant shall see it (in the end).
کان جوان در جست و جو بد هفت سال ** از خیال وصل گشته چون خیال4780
(It happened) that for seven years that youth was (engaged) in search and seeking: from (cherishing) the phantasy of union he became like a phantom.
سایه‌ی حق بر سر بنده بود ** عاقبت جوینده یابنده بود
(If) the shadow (protection) of God be over the head of the servant (of God), the seeker at last will be a finder.
گفت پیغامبر که چون کوبی دری ** عاقبت زان در برون آید سری
The Prophet said that when you knock at a door, at last a head will come forth from that door.
چون نشینی بر سر کوی کسی ** عاقبت بینی تو هم روی کسی
When you sit (wait) on the road of a certain person, at last you will see also the face of a certain person.
چون ز چاهی می‌کنی هر روز خاک ** عاقبت اندر رسی در آب پاک
When, every day, you keep digging the earth from a pit, at last you will arrive at the pure water.
جمله دانند این اگر تو نگروی ** هر چه می‌کاریش روزی بدروی4785
(Even) if you may not believe (it), all know this, (that) one day you will reap whatsoever you are sowing.
سنگ بر آهن زدی آتش نجست ** این نباشد ور بباشد نادرست
You struck the stone (flint) against the iron (steel): the fire did not flash out! This may not be; or if it be (so), ’tis rare.
آنک روزی نیستش بخت و نجات ** ننگرد عقلش مگر در نادرات
He to whom felicity and salvation are not apportioned (by God)—his mind regards naught but the rarities.
کان فلان کس کشت کرد و بر نداشت ** و آن صدف برد و صدف گوهر نداشت
(He says) that such and such a one sowed seed and had no crop, while that (other) one bore away an oyster-shell (from the sea), and the shell had no pearl (within it).
بلعم باعور و ابلیس لعین ** سود نامدشان عبادتها و دین
(He says that in the cases of) Bal‘am son of Bá‘úr and the accursed Iblís, their acts of worship and their religion availed them not.
صد هزاران انبیا و ره‌روان ** ناید اندر خاطر آن بدگمان4790
The hundreds of thousands of prophets and travellers on the Way do not come into the mind of that evil-thinking man.
این دو را گیرد که تاریکی دهد ** در دلش ادبار جز این کی نهد
He takes these two (examples) which produce (spiritual) darkness: how should (his) ill fate put aught but this in his heart?
بس کسا که نان خورد دلشاد او ** مرگ او گردد بگیرد در گلو
Oh, there is many a one that eats bread with a glad heart, and it becomes the death of him: it sticks in his gullet.
پس تو ای ادبار رو هم نان مخور ** تا نیفتی همچو او در شور و شر
Go, then, O ill-fated man, do not eat bread at all, lest thou fall like him into bale and woe!
صد هزاران خلق نانها می‌خورند ** زور می‌یابند و جان می‌پرورند
Hundreds of thousands of folk are eating loaves of bread and gaining strength and nourishing the (vital) spirit.