قشرهای خشک را جا آتش است ** قشر پیوسته به مغز جان خوش است
The place for the dry peels is the fire, (but) the peel attached to the spiritual kernel is sweet.
مغز خود از مرتبهی خوش برترست ** برترست از خوش که لذت گسترست
The kernel itself is above the grade of “sweet”: it is above “sweet” because it is the dispenser of deliciousness.
این سخن پایان ندارد باز گرد ** تا برآرد موسیم از بحر گرد3285
This discourse hath no end: turn back, that my Moses may cleave the sea asunder.
درخور عقل عوام این گفته شد ** از سخن باقی آن بنهفته شد
This (preceding part) of the discourse hath been spoken suitably to the intelligence of the vulgar; the remainder thereof hath been concealed.
زر عقلت ریزه است ای متهم ** بر قراضه مهر سکه چون نهم
The gold, (which is) thy intelligence, is in fragments, O suspected one: how should I set the stamp of the die upon clippings?
عقل تو قسمت شده بر صد مهم ** بر هزاران آرزو و طم و رم
Thy intelligence is distributed over a hundred important affairs, over thousands of desires and great matters and small.
جمع باید کرد اجزا را به عشق ** تا شوی خوش چون سمرقند و دمشق
Thou must unite the (scattered) parts by means of love, to the end that thou mayst become sweet as Samarcand and Damascus.
جو جوی چون جمع گردی ز اشتباه ** پس توان زد بر تو سکهی پادشاه3290
When thou becomest united, grain by grain, from (after thy dispersion in) perplexity, then it is possible to stamp upon thee the King's die;
ور ز مثقالی شوی افزون تو خام ** از تو سازد شه یکی زرینه جام
And if thou, foolish man, become greater than a mithqál (dinar), the King will make of thee a cup of gold.
پس برو هم نام و هم القاب شاه ** باشد و هم صورتش ای وصل خواه
Then thereon will be both the name and the titles of the King and also his effigy, O thou that cravest to attain,
تا که معشوقت بود هم نان هم آب ** هم چراغ و شاهد و نقل شراب
So that the Beloved will be to thee both bread and water and lamp and minion and dessert and wine.
جمع کن خود را جماعت رحمتست ** تا توانم با تو گفتن آنچ هست
Unite thyself—union is (a Divine) mercy—that I may be able to speak unto thee that which is;
زانک گفتن از برای باوریست ** جان شرک از باوری حق بریست3295
For speaking is for the purpose of (producing) belief: the spirit of polytheism is quit (devoid) of belief in God.
جان قسمت گشته بر حشو فلک ** در میان شصت سودا مشترک
The spirit that has been distributed over the contents of the (mundane) sphere is shared amongst sixty passions;
پس خموشی به دهد او را ثبوت ** پس جواب احمقان آمد سکوت
Therefore silence is best: it gives peace to it ( to that spirit); therefore ( I ought to follow the adage) “Silence is the answer to fools.”
این همیدانم ولی مستی تن ** میگشاید بیمراد من دهن
This I know, but intoxication of the body is opening my mouth without volition on my part,
آنچنان که از عطسه و از خامیاز ** این دهان گردد بناخواه تو باز
Just as in sneezing and yawning this mouth becomes open without your willing it.
تفسیر این حدیث کی ائنی لاستغفر الله فی کل یوم سبعین مرة
Commentary on the Tradition, "Verily, I ask pardon of God seventy times every day."
همچو پیغامبر ز گفتن وز نثار ** توبه آرم روز من هفتاد بار3300
Like the Prophet, I repent seventy times daily of speaking and giving out (mysteries);
لیک آن مستی شود توبهشکن ** منسی است این مستی تن جامه کن
But that intoxication becomes a breaker of (vows of) penitence: this intoxication of the body causes oblivion and tears the robe (of penitence).
حکمت اظهار تاریخ دراز ** مستیی انداخت در دانای راز
The (Divine) purpose of making manifest the (things of) long ago (the eternal things) cast an intoxication upon the knower of the mystery,
راز پنهان با چنین طبل و علم ** آب جوشان گشته از جف القلم
(So that) with such drum and banner (conspicuousness) the hidden mystery has become water gushing from (the fountain of) “the Pen is dry.”
رحمت بیحد روانه هر زمان ** خفتهاید از درک آن ای مردمان
The infinite Mercy is flowing continually: ye are asleep to the perception thereof, O men!
جامهی خفته خورد از جوی آب ** خفته اندر خواب جویای سراب3305
The sleeper's garment drinks water from the river, (while) the sleeper is seeking the mirage in his dream.
میرود که آنجای بوی آب هست ** زین تفکر راه را بر خویش بست
He keeps running (to and fro), saying, “Yonder there is hope of water”: by this (false) thought he has barred the way against himself.
زانک آنجا گفت زینجا دور شد ** بر خیالی از حقی مهجور شد
Because he said “yonder” he became far from here (from the place where the water is): (through resting) in a vain imagination he was banished from a reality.