پشت او خم گشت همچون پشت خم ** ابروان بر چشم همچون پالدم2075
His back became bent like the back of a wine-jar, the brows over his eyes like a crupper-strap.
گشت آواز لطیف جان فزاش ** زشت و نزد کس نیرزیدی به لاش
His charming soul-refreshing voice became ugly and worth nothing to any one.
آن نوای رشک زهره آمده ** همچو آواز خر پیری شده
The tone that had (once) been the envy of Zuhra (Venus) was now like the bray of an old donkey.
خود کدامین خوش که او ناخوش نشد ** یا کدامین سقف کان مفرش نشد
Truly, what sweet one is there that did not become unsweet, or what roof that did not become a carpet?—
غیر آواز عزیزان در صدور ** که بود از عکس دمشان نفخ صور
Except the voices of holy men in their breasts, from the repercussion of whose breath is the blast of the trumpet (of Resurrection).
اندرونی کاندرونها مست از اوست ** نیستی کاین هستهامان هست از اوست2080
(Theirs is) the heart by which (all) hearts are made drunken, (theirs is) the nonexistence whereby these existences of ours are made existent.
کهربای فکر و هر آواز او ** لذت الهام و وحی و راز او
He (the saint) is the amber (magnet) of (all) thought and of every voice; he is the (inward) delight of revelation and inspiration and (Divine) mystery.
چون که مطرب پیرتر گشت و ضعیف ** شد ز بی‌‌کسبی رهین یک رغیف
When the minstrel grew older and feeble, through not earning (anything) he became indebted for a single loaf of bread.
گفت عمر و مهلتم دادی بسی ** لطفها کردی خدایا با خسی
He said, “Thou hast given me long life and respite: O God, Thou hast bestowed (many) favours on a vile wretch.
معصیت ورزیده‌‌ام هفتاد سال ** باز نگرفتی ز من روزی نوال
For seventy years I have been committing sin, (yet) not for one day hast Thou withheld Thy bounty from me.
نیست کسب امروز مهمان توام ** چنگ بهر تو زنم آن توام2085
I (can) earn nothing: to-day I am Thy guest, I will play the harp for Thee, I am Thine.”
چنگ را برداشت و شد الله جو ** سوی گورستان یثرب آه گو
He took up his harp and went in search of God to the graveyard of Medina, crying “Alas!”
گفت خواهم از حق ابریشم بها ** کاو به نیکویی پذیرد قلبها
He said, “I crave of God the price of silk (for harpstrings), for He in His kindness accepts adulterated coin.”
چون که زد بسیار و گریان سر نهاد ** چنگ بالین کرد و بر گوری فتاد
When he had played a long while and (then), weeping, laid his head down: he made the harp his pillow and dropped on a tomb.
خواب بردش مرغ جانش از حبس رست ** چنگ و چنگی را رها کرد و بجست
Sleep overtook him: the bird, his soul, escaped from captivity, it let harp and harper go and darted away.
گشت آزاد از تن و رنج جهان ** در جهان ساده و صحرای جان2090
It became freed from the body and the pain of this world in the simple (purely spiritual) world and the vast region of the soul.
جان او آن جا سرایان ماجرا ** کاندر اینجا گر بماندندی مرا
There his soul was singing what had befallen (it), saying, “If they would but let me stay here,
خوش بدی جانم در این باغ و بهار ** مست این صحرا و غیبی لاله‌‌زار
Happy would be my soul in this garden and springtide, drunken with this (far stretching) plain and mystic anemone-field.
بی‌‌پر و بی‌‌پا سفر می‌‌کردمی ** بی‌‌لب و دندان شکر می‌‌خوردمی
Without wing or foot I would be journeying, without lip or tooth I would be eating sugar.
ذکر و فکری فارغ از رنج دماغ ** کردمی با ساکنان چرخ لاغ
With a memory and thought free from brain-sickness, I would frolic with the dwellers in Heaven.
چشم بسته عالمی می‌‌دیدمی ** ورد و ریحان بی‌‌کفی می‌‌چیدمی2095
With eye shut I would be seeing a (whole) world, without a hand I would be gathering roses and basil.”
مرغ آبی غرق دریای عسل ** عین ایوبی شراب و مغتسل
The water-bird (his soul) was plunged in a sea of honey— the fountain of Job, to drink and wash in,
که بدو ایوب از پا تا به فرق ** پاک شد از رنجها چون نور شرق
Whereby Job, from his feet to the crown of his head, was purged of afflictions (and made pure) like the light of the sunrise.
مثنوی در حجم گر بودی چو چرخ ** درنگنجیدی در او زین نیم برخ
If the Mathnawí were as the sky in magnitude, not half the portion of this (mystery) would find room in it,
کان زمین و آسمان بس فراخ ** کرد از تنگی دلم را شاخ شاخ
For the exceeding broad earth and sky (of the material world) caused my heart, from (their) narrowness (in comparison with the spiritual universe), to be rent in pieces;
وین جهانی کاندر این خوابم نمود ** از گشایش پر و بالم را گشود2100
And this world that was revealed to me in this dream (of the minstrel) has spread wide my wings and pinions because of (its vast) expansion.
این جهان و راهش ار پیدا بدی ** کم کسی یک لحظه‌‌ای آن جا بدی
If this world and the way to it were manifest, no one would remain there (in the material world) for a single moment.
امر می‌‌آمد که نی طامع مشو ** چون ز پایت خار بیرون شد برو
The (Divine) command was coming (to the minstrel)—“Nay, be not covetous: inasmuch as the thorn is out of thy foot, depart”—
مول مولی می‌‌زد آن جا جان او ** در فضای رحمت و احسان او
(Whilst) his soul was lingering there in the spacious demesne of His (God's) mercy and beneficence.
در خواب گفتن هاتف مر عمر را رضی الله عنه که چندین زر از بیت المال به آن مرد ده که در گورستان خفته است
How the heavenly voice spoke to ‘Umar, may God be well-pleased with him, while he was asleep, saying, “Give a certain sum of gold from the public treasury to the man who is sleeping in the graveyard.”
آن زمان حق بر عمر خوابی گماشت ** تا که خویش از خواب نتوانست داشت
Then God sent such a drowsiness upon ‘Umar that he was unable to keep himself from slumber.
در عجب افتاد کاین معهود نیست ** این ز غیب افتاد بی‌‌مقصود نیست2105
He fell into amazement saying, “This is (a thing) unknown. This has fallen from the Unseen, ’tis not without purpose.”
سر نهاد و خواب بردش خواب دید ** کامدش از حق ندا جانش شنید
He laid his head down, and slumber overtook him. He dreamed that a voice came to him from God: his spirit heard
آن ندایی کاصل هر بانگ و نواست ** خود ندا آن است و این باقی صداست
That voice which is the origin of every cry and sound: that indeed is the (only) voice, and the rest are echoes.
ترک و کرد و پارسی گو و عرب ** فهم کرده آن ندا بی‌‌گوش و لب
Turcoman and Kurd and Persian-speaking man and Arab have understood that voice without (help of) ear or lip.
خود چه جای ترک و تاجیک است و زنگ ** فهم کرده ست آن ندا را چوب و سنگ
Ay, (but) what of Turcomans, Persians, and Ethiopians? (Even) wood and stone have understood that voice.
هر دمی از وی همی‌‌آید أ لست ** جوهر و اعراض می‌‌گردند هست2110
Every moment there is coming from Him (the call), “Am not I (your Lord)?” and substance and accidents are becoming existent.
گر نمی‌‌آید بلی ز یشان ولی ** آمدنشان از عدم باشد بلی
If (the answer) “Yea” is not coming from them, yet their coming from non-existence (into existence) is (equivalent to) “Yea.”
ز آن چه گفتم من ز فهم سنگ و چوب ** در بیانش قصه‌‌ای هش دار خوب
Listen to a goodly tale in explanation of what I have said concerning the (spiritual) apprehension of (possessed by) stone and wood.
نالیدن ستون حنانه چون برای پیغامبر علیه السلام منبر ساختند که جماعت انبوه شد گفتند ما روی مبارک تو را به هنگام وعظ نمی‌‌بینیم و شنیدن رسول و صحابه آن ناله را و سؤال و جواب مصطفی صلی الله علیه و اله و سلم با ستون صریح
How the moaning pillar complained when they made a pulpit for the Prophet, on whom be peace—for the multitude had become great, and said, “We do not see thy blessed face when thou art exhorting us”—and how the Prophet and his Companions heard that complaint, and how Mustafá conversed with the pillar in clear language.
استن حنانه از هجر رسول ** ناله می‌‌زد همچو ارباب عقول
The moaning pillar was complaining of (its) separation from the Prophet, just as rational beings (might do).
گفت پیغمبر چه خواهی ای ستون ** گفت جانم از فراقت گشت خون
The Prophet said, “O pillar, what dost thou want?” It said, “My soul is turned to blood because of parting from thee.
مسندت من بودم از من تاختی ** بر سر منبر تو مسند ساختی2115
I was thy support: (now) thou hast run away from me: thou hast devised a place to lean against upon the pulpit.”
گفت خواهی که ترا نخلی کنند ** شرقی و غربی ز تو میوه چنند
“Dost thou desire,” said he, “to be made a date-palm, (so that) the people of the East and the West shall gather fruit from thee?
یا در آن عالم حقت سروی کند ** تا تر و تازه بمانی تا ابد
Or that He (God) should make thee a cypress in yonder world, so that thou wilt remain everlastingly fresh and flourishing?”
گفت آن خواهم که دایم شد بقاش ** بشنو ای غافل کم از چوبی مباش
It replied, “I desire that whereof the life is enduring for ever.” Hearken, O heedless one! Be not thou less than a piece of wood!
آن ستون را دفن کرد اندر زمین ** تا چو مردم حشر گردد یوم دین
He (the Prophet) buried that pillar in the earth, that it may be raised from the dead, like mankind, on the day of Resurrection,
تا بدانی هر که را یزدان بخواند ** از همه کار جهان بی‌‌کار ماند2120
That (hence) thou mayst know that every one whom God has called (to Himself) remains disengaged from all the work of this world.
هر که را باشد ز یزدان کار و بار ** یافت بار آن جا و بیرون شد ز کار
Whosoever hath his work and business from God, gains admission there and goes forth from (abandons worldly) work.
آن که او را نبود از اسرار داد ** کی کند تصدیق او ناله‌‌ی جماد
He that hath no gift (portion) of spiritual mysteries, how should he believe in the complaining of inanimate things?
گوید آری نه ز دل بهر وفاق ** تا نگویندش که هست اهل نفاق
He says “Yes,” not from his heart (but) for agreement's sake, lest people should say that he is a hypocrite (in his religion).
گر نیندی واقفان امر کن ** در جهان رد گشته بودی این سخن
Unless there were knowers of the (Divine) command “Be!”, this doctrine (that inanimate things are capable of speech) would have been rejected in the world.