-
گرچه از یک وجه منطق کاشف است ** لیک از ده وجه پرده و مکنف است
- Although from one point of view speech is a revealer, yet from ten points of view it is a curtain and concealer.
-
گفتن خلیل مر جبرئیل را علیهماالسلام چون پرسیدش کی الک حاجة خلیل جوابش داد کی اما الیک فلا
- How Khalíl (Abraham) answered Gabriel, on both of whom be peace, when he asked him, "Hast thou any need?"—"As regards need of thee, no!"
-
من خلیل وقتم و او جبرئیل ** من نخواهم در بلا او را دلیل
- “I am the Khalíl (Abraham) of the present time, and he is the Gabriel: I do not want him as a guide (to deliver me) in calamity.
-
او ادب ناموخت از جبریل راد ** که بپرسید از خیل حق مراد 2975
- He did not learn respectfulness (as he might) from noble Gabriel, who asked the Friend of God (Abraham) what was his wish,
-
که مرادت هست تا یاری کنم ** ورنه بگریزم سبکباری کنم
- Saying, ‘Hast thou a wish?—that I may help (thee to obtain it); otherwise, I will flee and make a speedy departure.’
-
گفت ابراهیم نی رو از میان ** واسطه زحمت بود بعد العیان
- Abraham said, ‘No; begone out of the way! After direct vision the intermediary is (only) an inconvenience.’
-
بهر این دنیاست مرسل رابطه ** مومنان را زانک هست او واسطه
- On account of this present life the (Divine) messenger is a link for the true believers, because he is the intermediary (between them and God).
-
هر دل ار سامع بدی وحی نهان ** حرف و صوتی کی بدی اندر جهان
- If every heart were hearing the hidden (Divine) revelation, how should there be in the world any words and sounds (to make it known)?
-
گرچه او محو حقست و بیسرست ** لیک کار من از آن نازکترست 2980
- Though he (the intercessor) is lost in God and headless (devoid of self existence), yet my case is more delicate than that.
-
کردهی او کردهی شاهست لیک ** پیش ضعفم بد نمایندهست نیک
- His act is the act of the king, but to my infirmity the good (which he did) appears to be evil.”
-
آنچ عین لطف باشد بر عوام ** قهر شد بر نازنینان کرام
- That which is the very essence of grace to the vulgar becomes wrath to the noble favourites (of God).
-
بس بلا و رنج میباید کشید ** عامه را تا فرق را توانند دید
- Much tribulation and pain must the vulgar endure in order that they may be able to perceive the difference;
-
کین حروف واسطه ای یار غار ** پیش واصل خار باشد خار خار
- For, O (my) companion in the Cave, these intermediary words are, in the sight of one united (with God), thorns, thorns, thorns.
-
بس بلا و رنج بایست و وقوف ** تا رهد آن روح صافی از حروف 2985
- Much tribulation and pain and waiting were needed in order that that pure spirit might be delivered from the (intermediary) words;
-
لیک بعضی زین صدا کرتر شدند ** باز بعضی صافی و برتر شدند
- But some (persons) have become more deaf (than others) to this echo; some, again, have become purified and have mounted higher.
-
همچو آب نیل آمد این بلا ** سعد را آبست و خون بر اشقیا
- This tribulation is like the water of the Nile: it is water to the blessed and blood to the damned.
-
هر که پایانبینتر او مسعودتر ** جدتر او کارد که افزون دید بر
- The more one descries the end, the more blessed is he: the greater one sees the crop (to be), the more zealously he sows,
-
زانک داند کین جهان کاشتن ** هست بهر محشر و برداشتن
- Because he knows that this world of sowing is for the sake of the (Last) Congregation and (for the sake of) gathering in (the harvest).
-
هیچ عقدی بهر عین خود نبود ** بلک از بهر مقام ربح و سود 2990
- No contract (of sale) was (ever made) for the sake of itself; nay, but for the sake of (being in) the position of (making) gain and profit.
-
هیچ نبود منکری گر بنگری ** منکریاش بهر عین منکری
- There is no disbeliever, if you look (carefully), whose disbelief is for the sake of the disbelief itself;
-
بل برای قهر خصم اندر حسد ** یا فزونی جستن و اظهار خود
- Nay, but (it is) for the purpose of subduing his adversary in envy (of him), or seeking superiority and self-display.
-
وآن فزونی هم پی طمع دگر ** بیمعانی چاشنی ندهد صور
- And that superiority too is for the sake of some other desire: the forms give no relish without the essential meanings.
-
زان همیپرسی چرا این میکنی ** که صور زیتست و معنی روشنی
- You ask “Why art thou doing this?” because the forms are (as) the oil, and the essential meaning is (as) the light.
-
ورنه این گفتن چرا از بهر چیست ** چونک صورت بهر عین صورتیست 2995
- Otherwise, wherefore is this saying “why”?—since (hypothetically) the form is for the sake of the form itself.
-
این چرا گفتن سال از فایدهست ** جز برای این چرا گفتن بدست
- This saying “why” is a question concerning the use (reason): it is bad to say “why” for any cause but this.
-
از چه رو فایدهی جویی ای امین ** چون بود فایده این خود همین
- Wherefore, O trusty one, should you desire (to know) the use (reason)?—since (hypothetically) the use of this (form) is only this (form itself).