در درون یک ذره نور عارفی ** به بود از صد معرف ای صفی
O sincere man, a single atom of the light of (mystic) knowledge within (thee) is better than a hundred announcers.
گوش را رهن معرف داشتن ** آیت محجوبیست و حزر و ظن
To confine one's attention to the announcer is a mark of being debarred (from access to real knowledge) and of (being preoccupied with) conjecture and (mere) opinion.
آنک او را چشم دل شد دیدبان ** دید خواهد چشم او عین العیان 4405
He whose scout is his inward eye—his eye will behold with the very acme of clairvoyance.
با تواتر نیست قانع جان او ** بل ز چشم دل رسد ایقان او
His soul is not content with traditional authority; nay, his feeling of (absolute) certainty comes from the inward eye.
پس معرف پیش شاه منتجب ** در بیان حال او بگشود لب
Then the announcer opened his lips to describe his (the eldest brother's) plight in the presence of the elect King.
گفت شاها صید احسان توست ** پادشاهی کن که بی بیرون شوست
He said, “O King, he is fallen a prey to thy beneficence: show kingly favour (to him), for he has no means of escape.
دست در فتراک این دولت زدست ** بر سر سرمست او بر مال دست
He has clutched the saddle-strap of this empire: stroke his distraught head with thy (royal) hand!”
گفت شه هر منصبی و ملکتی ** که التماسش هست یابد این فتی 4410
The King replied, “This youth will obtain (from me) every high dignity and sovereignty that he seeks.
بیست چندان ملک کو شد زان بری ** بخشمش اینجا و ما خود بر سری
I will bestow on him here (and now) twenty times as many kingdoms as he has relinquished, and myself into the bargain.”
گفت تا شاهیت در وی عشق کاشت ** جز هوای تو هوایی کی گذاشت
He (the announcer) said, “Since thy royal majesty sowed in him the seed of love, how could it leave (in him) any passion except passion for thee?
بندگی تش چنان درخورد شد ** که شهی اندر دل او سرد شد
’Tis so agreeable to him to be thy slave that kingship has become cold comfort to his heart.
شاهی و شه‌زادگی در باختست ** از پی تو در غریبی ساختست
He has gambled away kingship and princedom: for thy sake he has put up with living in exile.
صوفیست انداخت خرقه وجد در ** کی رود او بر سر خرقه دگر 4415
He is a Súfí: he has flung away his mantle in ecstasy: how should he turn again to his mantle?
میل سوی خرقه‌ی داده و ندم ** آنچنان باشد که من مغبون شدم
To hanker for the given away mantle and repent (of having given it) is as much as to say, ‘I have been swindled:
باز ده آن خرقه این سو ای قرین ** که نمی‌ارزید آن یعنی بدین
Put the mantle back here, O comrade, for that (ecstasy) was not worth it, that is, (not worth) this (mantle).’
دور از عاشق که این فکر آیدش ** ور بیاید خاک بر سر بایدش
Far be it from a lover that such a thought should occur to him; and if it do, dust ought to be (sprinkled) on his head.
عشق ارزد صد چو خرقه کالبد ** که حیاتی دارد و حس و خرد
Love is worth a hundred mantles like that of the body, which contains a (principle of) life and sensation and reason;
خاصه خرقه‌ی ملک دنیا کابترست ** پنج دانگ مستیش درد سرست 4420
Especially the mantle of worldly dominion, which is cut short (exiguous): a pennyworth of intoxication with it is (results in) headache.
ملک دنیا تن‌پرستان را حلال ** ما غلام ملک عشق بی‌زوال
Worldly dominion is lawful (only) to those who indulge the body: we (lovers) are devoted to the everlasting kingdom of Love.
عامل عشقست معزولش مکن ** جز به عشق خویش مشغولش مکن
He (the prince) is Love's agent: do not deprive him of his employment, do not let him be employed in aught but loving thee.
The office (business) that veils me from (the sight of) thy face is the very essence of unemployment, though it is called ‘office.’
موجب تاخیر اینجا آمدن ** فقد استعداد بود و ضعف فن
The cause of (his) delay in coming hither was lack of capability and defect of skill.”
بی ز استعداد در کانی روی ** بر یکی حبه نگردی محتوی 4425
(If) you go into a mine without (having) capability, you will not gain possession of a single grain (of gold),
هم‌چو عنینی که بکری را خرد ** گرچه سیمین‌بر بود کی بر خورد
Tanquam vir veneri inhabilis qui virginem emit: ea, etsi pectus argenteum (candidum) sit, frui quo pacto poterit? [Like an impotent man who buys a virgin (for a slave): even if she is a silver-breasted (beauty), how can he enjoy (her sexually)?]
چون چراغی بی ز زیت و بی فتیل ** نه کثیرستش ز شمع و نه قلیل
(The incapable man is) like a lamp without oil or wick that gets neither much nor little from the (flaming) taper.