The ship of (self-)consciousness, when it is utterly wrecked, becomes (like) the sun in the blue vault (of heaven).
چون نمردی گشت جان کندن دراز ** مات شو در صبح ای شمع طراز 730
Inasmuch as you have not died, your agony has been prolonged: be extinguished in the dawn, O candle of Tiráz!
تا نگشتند اختران ما نهان ** دانک پنهانست خورشید جهان
Know that the Sun of the world is hidden till our stars have become hidden.
گرز بر خود زن منی در هم شکن ** زانک پنبهی گوش آمد چشم تن
Wield the mace against yourself: shatter egoism to pieces, for the bodily eye is (as) cottonwool in the ear.
گرز بر خود میزنی خود ای دنی ** عکس تست اندر فعالم این منی
You are wielding the mace against yourself, O base man: this egoism is the reflexion of yourself in (the mirror of) my actions.
عکس خود در صورت من دیدهای ** در قتال خویش بر جوشیدهای
You have seen the reflexion of yourself in (the mirror of) my form and have risen in fury to fight with yourself,
همچو آن شیری که در چه شد فرو ** عکس خود را خصم خود پنداشت او 735
Like the lion who went down into the well; (for) he fancied that the reflexion of himself was his enemy.”
نفی ضد هست باشد بیشکی ** تا ز ضد ضد را بدانی اندکی
Beyond any doubt, negation (not-being) is the opposite of (real) being, (and this is) in order that by means of the (one) opposite you may gain a little knowledge of the (other) opposite.
این زمان جز نفی ضد اعلام نیست ** اندرین نشات دمی بیدام نیست
At this time there is no (means of) making (God) known except (by) denying the opposite: in this (earthly) life no moment is without a snare.
بیحجابت باید آن ای ذو لباب ** مرگ را بگزین و بر دران حجاب
O you who possess sincerity, (if) you want that (Reality) unveiled, choose death and tear off the veil—
نه چنان مرگی که در گوری روی ** مرگ تبدیلی که در نوری روی
Not such a death that you will go into a grave, (but) a death consisting of (spiritual) transformation, so that you will go into a Light.
مرد بالغ گشت آن بچگی بمرد ** رومیی شد صبغت زنگی سترد 740
(When) a man grows up, his childhood dies; (when) he becomes a (fair-complexioned) Greek, he washes out the dye (swarthy colour) of the Ethiopian.
خاک زر شد هیات خاکی نماند ** غم فرج شد خار غمناکی نماند
(When) earth becomes gold, its earthly aspect remains not; (when) sorrow becomes joy, the thorn of sorrowfulness remains not.
مصطفی زین گفت کای اسرارجو ** مرده را خواهی که بینی زنده تو
Hence Mustafá (Mohammed) said, “O seeker of the mysteries, (if) you wish to see a dead man living—
میرود چون زندگان بر خاکدان ** مرده و جانش شده بر آسمان
Walking on the earth, like living men; (yet he is) dead and his spirit is gone to heaven;
جانش را این دم به بالا مسکنیست ** گر بمیرد روح او را نقل نیست
(One) whose spirit hath a dwelling-place on high at this moment, (so that) if he die, his spirit is not translated,
زانک پیش از مرگ او کردست نقل ** این بمردن فهم آید نه به عقل 745
Because it has been translated before death: this (mystery) is understood (only) by dying, not by (using one's) reason;
نقل باشد نه چو نقل جان عام ** همچو نقلی از مقامی تا مقام
Translation it is, (but) not like the translation of the spirits of the vulgar: it resembles a removal (during life) from one place to another—
هرکه خواهد که ببیند بر زمین ** مردهای را میرود ظاهر چنین
If any one wish to see a dead man walking thus visibly on the earth,
مر ابوبکر تقی را گو ببین ** شد ز صدیقی امیرالمحشرین
Let him behold Abú Bakr, the devout, (who) through being a true witness (siddíq) became the Prince of the Resurrected.
اندرین نشات نگر صدیق را ** تا به حشر افزون کنی تصدیق را
In this (earthly) life look at the Siddíq (Abú Bakr), that you may believe more firmly in the Resurrection.”
پس محمد صد قیامت بود نقد ** زانک حل شد در فنای حل و عقد 750
Mohammed, then, was a hundred (spiritual) resurrections here and now, for he was dissolved (naughted) in dying to (temporal) loosing and binding.
زادهی ثانیست احمد در جهان ** صد قیامت بود او اندر عیان
Ahmad (Mohammed) is the twice-born in this world: he was manifestly a hundred resurrections.
زو قیامت را همیپرسیدهاند ** ای قیامت تا قیامت راه چند
They asked him concerning the Resurrection, saying, “O (thou who art the) Resurrection, how long is the way to the Resurrection?”
با زبان حال میگفتی بسی ** که ز محشر حشر را پرسید کسی
And often he would say with mute eloquence, “Does any one ask (me who am) the Resurrection concerning the Resurrection?”