تا نشد او لعل خود را دشمنست ** زانک یک من نیست آنجا دو منست
Until it (the stone) has become a ruby, it is an enemy to itself, because it is not a single “I”: two “I's” are there;
زانک ظلمانیست سنگ و روزکور ** هست ظلمانی حقیقت ضد نور
For the stone is dark and blind to the day (-light): the dark is essentially opposed to light.
خویشتن را دوست دارد کافرست ** زانک او مناع شمس اکبرست
(If) it love itself, it is an infidel, because it offers intense resistance to the supreme Sun.
پس نشاید که بگوید سنگ انا ** او همه تاریکیست و در فنا
Therefore ’tis not fitting that the stone should say “I,” (for) it is wholly darkness and in (the state of) death.
گفت فرعونی انا الحق گشت پست ** گفت منصوری اناالحق و برست 2035
A Pharaoh said “I am God” and was laid low; a Mansúr (Halláj) said “I am God” and was saved.
آن انا را لعنة الله در عقب ** وین انا را رحمةالله ای محب
The former “I” is followed by God's curse and the latter “I” by God's mercy, O loving man;
زانک او سنگ سیه بد این عقیق ** آن عدوی نور بود و این عشیق
For that one (Pharaoh) was a black stone, this one (Halláj) a cornelian; that one was an enemy to the Light, and this one passionately enamoured (of it).
این انا هو بود در سر ای فضول ** ز اتحاد نور نه از رای حلول
This “I,” O presumptuous meddler, was “He” (God) in the inmost consciousness, through oneness with the Light, not through (belief in) the doctrine of incarnation.
جهد کن تا سنگیت کمتر شود ** تا به لعلی سنگ تو انور شود
Strive that thy stony nature may be diminished, so that thy stone may become resplendent with the qualities of the ruby.
صبر کن اندر جهاد و در عنا ** دم به دم می‌بین بقا اندر فنا 2040
Show fortitude in (enduring) self-mortification and affliction; continually behold everlasting life in dying to self.
وصف سنگی هر زمان کم می‌شود ** وصف لعلی در تو محکم می‌شود
(Then) thy stoniness will become less at every moment, the nature of the ruby will be strengthened in thee.
وصف هستی می‌رود از پیکرت ** وصف مستی می‌فزاید در سرت
The qualities of (self-)existence will depart from thy body, the qualities of intoxication (ecstasy) will increase in thy head (thy spiritual centre).
سمع شو یکبارگی تو گوشوار ** تا ز حلقه‌ی لعل یابی گوشوار
Become entirely hearing, like an ear, in order that thou mayst gain an ear-ring of ruby.
هم‌چو چه کن خاک می‌کن گر کسی ** زین تن خاکی که در آبی رسی
If thou art a man, dig earth, like a well-digger, from this earthen body, that thou mayst reach some water;
گر رسد جذبه‌ی خدا آب معین ** چاه ناکنده بجوشد از زمین 2045
(And) if the pull (inspiration) of God come (to thee), the running water will bubble up from the earth without thy well having been dug.
کار می‌کن تو بگوش آن مباش ** اندک اندک خاک چه را می‌تراش
Be always working, do not pay heed to that (hope of being enabled to dispense with work): keep scraping away the earth of the (bodily) well little by little.
هر که رنجی دید گنجی شد پدید ** هر که جدی کرد در جدی رسید
To every one who suffers a tribulation there is revealed a treasure: every one who makes an earnest endeavour comes into a fortune.
گفت پیغمبر رکوعست و سجود ** بر در حق کوفتن حلقه‌ی وجود
The Prophet hath said that acts of genuflexion and prostration (in the ritual prayer) are (equivalent to) knocking the door-ring of (mystical) attainment on the Divine Portal.
حلقه‌ی آن در هر آنکو می‌زند ** بهر او دولت سری بیرون کند
When any one continues to knock that door-ring, felicity peeps out for his sake.
آمدن آن امیر نمام با سرهنگان نیم‌شب بگشادن آن حجره‌ی ایاز و پوستین و چارق دیدن آویخته و گمان بردن کی آن مکرست و روپوش و خانه را حفره کردن بهر گوشه‌ای کی گمان آمد چاه کنان آوردن و دیوارها را سوراخ کردن و چیزی نایافتن و خجل و نومید شدن چنانک بدگمانان و خیال‌اندیشان در کار انبیا و اولیا کی می‌گفتند کی ساحرند و خویشتن ساخته‌اند و تصدر می‌جویند بعد از تفحص خجل شوند و سود ندارد
How the Amír who was the author of the mischievous intrigue came at midnight with his officers to open the chamber of Ayáz, and saw the sheepskin jacket and rustic shoon hanging (there) and supposed that this was a trick and pretence; and how he dug up every suspected corner and brought excavators and made holes in the walls and discovered nothing and fell into confusion and despair. So (it is with such) evil thinking men (as those) who imagined vain things about the work of the prophets and saints, saying that they were magicians and self-advertisers and (only) sought to occupy the chief position (among their people): after having investigated, they are covered with confusion, but it does not avail them.
آن امینان بر در حجره شدند ** طالب گنج و زر و خمره بدند 2050
Those trusted (officers) came to the door of the chamber: they began to search for the treasure and the gold and the jar.
قفل را برمی‌گشادند از هوس ** با دو صد فرهنگ و دانش چند کس
A number of them, (urged) by vain desire, unlocked the door with infinite dexterity and skill;
زانک قفل صعب و پر پیچیده بود ** از میان قفلها بگزیده بود
For it was a formidable lock with intricate bolts: he (Ayáz) had selected it from (many other) locks,
نه ز بخل سیم و مال و زر خام ** از برای کتم آن سر از عوام
Not that he was avaricious of silver and riches and crude (uncoined) gold, (but) in order to hide that secret (of his) from the vulgar,
که گروهی بر خیال بد تنند ** قوم دیگر نام سالوسم کنند
“Lest” (so he thought) “some people imagine evil, (while) others call me a hypocrite.”
پیش با همت بود اسرار جان ** از خسان محفوظ‌تر از لعل کان 2055
With the man of lofty aspiration the soul's secrets are kept from the base (worldlings) more safely than the ruby in the mine.