گر تو باشی تنگ‌دل از ملحمه ** تنگ بینی جمله دنیا را همه

If thou art narrow (oppressed) at heart from (being engaged in) combat, thou deemest the whole atmosphere of the world to be narrow;

ور تو خوش باشی به کام دوستان ** این جهان بنمایدت چون گلستان

And if thou art happy as thy friends would desire, this world seems to thee like a garden of roses.

ای بسا کس رفته تا شام و عراق ** او ندیده هیچ جز کفر و نفاق

How many a one has gone as far as Syria and ‘Iráq and has seen nothing but unbelief and hypocrisy;

وی بسا کس رفته تا هند و هری ** او ندیده جز مگر بیع و شری

And how many a one has gone as far as India and Hirá (Herát) and seen nothing but selling and buying;

وی بسا کس رفته ترکستان و چین ** او ندیده هیچ جز مکر و کمین 2375

And how many a one has gone as far as Turkistán and China and seen nothing but deceit and hidden guile!

چون ندارد مدرکی جز رنگ و بو ** جمله‌ی اقلیمها را گو بجو

Since he has no object of perception save colour and perfume (external phenomena), let him seek (through) all the climes, (he will see nothing spiritual).

گاو در بغداد آید ناگهان ** بگذرد او زین سران تا آن سران

(If) a cow come suddenly into Baghdád and pass from this side (of the city) to that (farther) side,

از همه عیش و خوشیها و مزه ** او نبیند جز که قشر خربزه

Of all (its) pleasures and joys and delights she will see nothing but the rind of a water-melon.

که بود افتاده بر ره یا حشیش ** لایق سیران گاوی یا خریش

(If) straw or hay has fallen on the road, (it is) suitable to his (such a one's) bovine or asinine disposition.

خشک بر میخ طبیعت چون قدید ** بسته‌ی اسباب جانش لا یزید 2380

(Hanging) dry on the nail of (his bestial) nature, like strips of meat (exposed to the sun), his spirit, bound with (the cords of) secondary causes, does not grow;

وان فضای خرق اسباب و علل ** هست ارض الله ای صدر اجل

But the spacious realm where means and causes are torn to shreds (transcended) is the earth of God, O most honourable sire.

هر زمان مبدل شود چون نقش جان ** نو به نو بیند جهانی در عیان

It is ever changing, like a (fleeting) picture: the spirit beholds in clairvoyance a world (appearing) anew and anew.

گر بود فردوس و انهار بهشت ** چون فسرده‌ی یک صفت شد گشت زشت

(Everything), though it be Paradise and the rivers of Eden, becomes ugly when it is congealed (fixed permanently) in one aspect.

بیان آنک هر حس مدرکی را از آدمی نیز مدرکاتی دیگرست کی از مدرکات آن حس دگر بی‌خبرست چنانک هر پیشه‌ور استاد اعجمی کار آن استاد دگر پیشه‌ورست و بی‌خبری او از آنک وظیفه‌ی او نیست دلیل نکند کی آن مدرکات نیست اگر چه به حکم حال منکر بود آن را اما از منکری او اینجا جز بی‌خبری نمی‌خواهیم درین مقام

Explaining that every percipient sense of man has different objects of perception too, of which the other senses are ignorant, as (for example) every skilled craftsman is unfamiliar with the work of those skilled in other crafts; and its (another sense's) ignorance of that which is not its business does not prove that those objects of perception are non-existent. Although it virtually denies them, yet here in this place we only mean by its ‘denial’ its ignorance.

چنبره‌ی دید جهان ادراک تست ** پرده‌ی پاکان حس ناپاک تست

Thy perception is the measure of thy vision of the world: thy impure senses are the veil (which prevents thee from having sight) of the pure (holy men).

مدتی حس را بشو ز آب عیان ** این چنین دان جامه‌شوی صوفیان 2385

Wash thy senses for a while with the water of clairvoyance: know that the garment-washing of the Súfís is like this.

چون شدی تو پاک پرده بر کند ** جان پاکان خویش بر تو می‌زند

When thou hast become purified, the spirit of the pure ones will tear off the veil and attach itself to thee.

جمله عالم گر بود نور و صور ** چشم را باشد از آن خوبی خبر

If the whole world be (filled with) light and (radiant) forms, (only) the eye would be aware of that loveliness.

چشم بستی گوش می‌آری به پیش ** تا نمایی زلف و رخساره‌ی به تیش

(Suppose) thou hast shut the eye and art bringing forward the ear that thou mayst show unto it the locks and face of an adorable beauty,

گوش گوید من به صورت نگروم ** صورت ار بانگی زند من بشنوم

The ear will say, “I do not attend to the (visible) form: if the form utter a cry, I will hearken.

عالمم من لکی اندر فن خویش ** فن من جز حرف و صوتی نیست بیش 2390

I am skilled, but (only) in my own art: my art is (the perception of) a (spoken) word or sound, no more.”

هین بیا بینی ببین این خوب را ** نیست در خور بینی این مطلوب را

(And if thou say), “Hey, nose, come and see this beauteous one,” the nose is not fit for this purpose.

گر بود مشک و گلابی بو برم ** فن من اینست و علم و مخبرم

“If there be any musk or rose-water, I will smell it: this is my art and science and knowledge.

کی ببینم من رخ آن سیم‌ساق ** هین مکن تکلیف ما لیس یطاق

How should I see the face of that silver-shanked one? Take heed, do not lay (on me) as a task that which cannot be done.”

باز حس کژ نبیند غیر کژ ** خواه کژ غژ پیش او یا راست غژ

Again, the crooked (perverted) sense hath naught but crooked (perverse) perception, (so) go crookedly into His presence or go straight, as thou wilt (it matters not).

چشم احول از یکی دیدن یقین ** دانک معزولست ای خواجه معین 2395

Know for sure that the eye of him who sees double is remote from seeing the Unity, O Khwája who aidest (the true Religion).