کوهها را هست زین طوفان فضوح ** کو امانی جز که در کشتی نوح 2655
Mountains are put to shame by this Flood: where is any safety (to be found) but in the Ship (Ark) of Noah?
زین خیال ره‌زن راه یقین ** گشت هفتاد و دو ملت اهل دین
By this phantasy, which infests the road of Faith like a brigand, the followers of the (true) Religion have become (split into) two and seventy sects.
مرد ایقان رست از وهم و خیال ** موی ابرو را نمی‌گوید هلال
The man of sure faith is delivered from imagination and phantasy: he does not call a hair of the eyebrow the new moon,
وآنک نور عمرش نبود سند ** موی ابروی کژی راهش زند
While he that has not the (spiritual) light of ‘Umar as his support is waylaid (deceived) by a crooked hair of the eyebrow.
صد هزاران کشتی با هول و سهم ** تخته تخته گشته در دریای وهم
A hundred thousand awful and terrible ships have been shattered to pieces in the sea of imagination.
کمترین فرعون چست فیلسوف ** ماه او در برج وهمی در خسوف 2660
The least (of them is) the energetic and ingenious Pharaoh: his moon was eclipsed in the mansion of imagination.
کس نداند روسپی‌زن کیست آن ** وانک داند نیستش بر خود گمان
Nobody knows who is the cuckold, and he that knows has no doubt concerning himself.
چون ترا وهم تو دارد خیره‌سر ** از چه گردی گرد وهم آن دگر
Since thine own imagination keeps thee giddy-headed, wherefore shouldst thou revolve round the imagination of another?
عاجزم من از منی خویشتن ** چه نشستی پر منی تو پیش من
I am helpless against my own egoism: why hast thou, full of egoism, sat down beside me?
بی‌من و مایی همی‌جویم به جان ** تا شوم من گوی آن خوش صولجان
I am seeking with (all) my soul one who is free from egoism, that I may become the ball of that goodly bat.
هر که بی‌من شد همه من‌ها خود اوست ** دوست جمله شد چو خود را نیست دوست 2665
In sooth any one who has become without ego is all egos: when he is not loved by himself he becomes loved by (them) all.
آینه بی‌نقش شد یابد بها ** زانک شد حاکی جمله نقشها
(When) a mirror becomes devoid of images, it gains splendour because (then) it is the reporter (reflector) of all images.
حکایت شیخ محمد سررزی غزنوی قدس الله سره
Story of Shaykh Mohammed Sar-razí of Ghazna, may God sanctify his spirit!
زاهدی در غزنی از دانش مزی ** بد محمد نام و کفیت سررزی
In Ghazna there was an ascetic, abounding in knowledge (of divinity): his name was Mohammed and his title Sar-razí.
بود افطارش سر رز هر شبی ** هفت سال او دایم اندر مطلبی
Every night he would break his fast with vine-tendrils (sar-i raz): during seven years he was continually (engaged) in one quest.
بس عجایب دید از شاه وجود ** لیک مقصودش جمال شاه بود
He experienced many marvellous things from the King of existence, but his object was (to behold) the beauty of the King.
بر سر که رفت آن از خویش سیر ** گفت بنما یا فتادم من به زیر 2670
That man who was surfeited with himself went to the top of a mountain and said, “Appear, or I will fall (throw myself) to the bottom.”
گفت نامد مهلت آن مکرمت ** ور فرو افتی نمیری نکشمت
He (God) said, “The time for that favour is not (yet) come, and if thou fall down, thou wilt not die: I will not kill thee.”
او فرو افکند خود را از وداد ** در میان عمق آبی اوفتاد
He, from love (of God), threw himself down: he fell into the depths of a (piece of) water.
چون نمرد از نکس آن جان‌سیر مرد ** از فراق مرگ بر خود نوحه کرد
When he (found that he) was not dead, on account of the shock (of disappointment) that man who was sick of life made lament over himself for having been parted from death;
کین حیات او را چو مرگی می‌نمود ** کار پیشش بازگونه گشته بود
For this (present) life seemed to him like a (state of) death: in his view the thing had become reversed.
موت را از غیب می‌کرد او کدی ** ان فی موتی حیاتی می‌زدی 2675
He was begging death (as a gift) from the Unseen, he was crying, “Verily, my life is in my death.”
موت را چون زندگی قابل شده ** با هلاک جان خود یک دل شده
He had embraced death as (other people embrace) life, he had become in full accord with the destruction of his life.
سیف و خنجر چون علی ریحان او ** نرگس و نسرین عدوی جان او
As (with) ‘Alí, the sword and dagger were his sweet basil, the narcissus and eglantine were his soul's enemies.
بانگ آمد رو ز صحرا سوی شهر ** بانگ طرفه از ورای سر و جهر
A Voice came (to his ear), “Go from the desert to the city”— a wondrous Voice transcending the occult and the manifest.
گفت ای دانای رازم مو به مو ** چه کنم در شهر از خدمت بگو
He cried, “O Thou that knowest my secret, hair by hair, tell me, what service am I to do in the city?”