ور تو چرخ و عرش را خوانی حقیر ** ور تو کان و بحر را گویی فقیر3910
And if Thou call the sky and the empyrean contemptible, and if Thou say that the mine and the sea are poor—
آن به نسبت با کمال تو رواست ** ملک اکمال فناها مر تراست
That is proper in reference to Thy perfection: Thine is the power of perfecting (all) mortalities,
که تو پاکی از خطر و ز نیستی ** نیستان را موجد و معنیستی
For Thou art holy (and free) from danger and from non-existence: Thou art He that brings the non-existent ones into being and endows (them with existence).
آن که رویانید داند سوختن ** ز آن که چون بدرید داند دوختن
He that made to grow can burn (destroy), because when He has torn, He can sew (mend).
می‌‌بسوزد هر خزان مر باغ را ** باز رویاند گل صباغ را
Every autumn He burns (withers) the garden; (then) He makes to grow again the rose that dyes (the garden),
کای بسوزیده برون آ تازه شو ** بار دیگر خوب و خوب آوازه شو3915
Saying, “O thou who wert withered, come forth, be fresh, once more be fair and of fair renown!”
چشم نرگس کور شد بازش بساخت ** حلق نی ببرید و بازش خود نواخت
The eye of the narcissus became blind: He restored it; the throat of the reed was cut: He himself fostered it again (and revived it).
ما چو مصنوعیم و صانع نیستیم ** جز زبون و جز که قانع نیستیم
Since we are made (by God) and are not makers, we are not (entitled to be anything) but humble and content.
ما همه نفسی و نفسی می‌‌زنیم ** گر نخوانی ما همه اهرمنیم
We all are of the flesh and busy with fleshliness: if Thou call us not (to Thyself), we all are Ahrimans (Devils).
ز آن ز اهرمن رهیدستیم ما ** که خریدی جان ما را از عمی
(If) we have been delivered from Ahriman, (it is only) because Thou hast redeemed our souls from blindness.
تو عصا کش هر که را که زندگی است ** بی‌‌عصا و بی‌‌عصا کش کور چیست3920
Thou art the Guide of every one that hath life: what is the blind man without staff and guide?
غیر تو هر چه خوش است و ناخوش است ** آدمی سوز است و عین آتش است
Excepting Thee (alone), whatsoever is sweet or unsweet is man-destroying and the essence of fire.
هر که را آتش پناه و پشت شد ** هم مجوسی گشت و هم زردشت شد
Any one to whom fire is a refuge and support becomes both a Magian and a Zoroaster.
کل شی‌‌ء ما خلا الله باطل ** إن فضل الله غیم هاطل
Everything except Allah is vain: verily the grace of Allah is a cloud pouring abundantly and continually.
باز گشتن به حکایت امیر المؤمنین علی کرم الله وجهه و مسامحت کردن او با خونی خویش
Returning to the story of ‘Alí—may God honour his person!— and how generously he behaved to his murderer.
باز رو سوی علی و خونی‌‌اش ** و آن کرم با خونی و افزونی‌‌اش
Go back to ‘Alí and his murderer, and the kindness he showed to the murderer, and his superiority (moral and spiritual excellence).
گفت دشمن را همی بینم به چشم ** روز و شب بر وی ندارم هیچ خشم3925
He said, “Day and night I see the enemy with my eyes, (but) I have no anger against him,
ز آنکه مرگم همچو من خوش آمده ست ** مرگ من در بعث چنگ اندر زده ست
Because death has become sweet as manna to me: my death has laid fast hold of resurrection.”
مرگ بی‌‌مرگی بود ما را حلال ** برگ بی‌‌برگی بود ما را نوال
The death of deathlessness is lawful to us, the provision of unprovidedness is a bounty to us.
ظاهرش مرگ و به باطن زندگی ** ظاهرش ابتر نهان پایندگی
’Tis death outwardly but life inwardly: apparently ’tis a cutting-off (decease), in secret (in reality) ’tis permanence (life without end).
در رحم زادن جنین را رفتن است ** در جهان او را ز نو بشکفتن است
To the embryo in the womb birth is a going (to another state of existence): in the world it (the embryo) blossoms anew.
چون مرا سوی اجل عشق و هواست ** نهی لا تلقوا بأيدیکم مراست3930
“Since I have intense love and longing for death, the prohibition do not cast yourselves (into destruction) is (meant) for me,
ز آنکه نهی از دانه‌‌ی شیرین بود ** تلخ را خود نهی حاجت کی شود
Because (only) the sweet berry is prohibited; (for) how should it become necessary to prohibit the sour one?
دانه‌‌ای که تلخ باشد مغز و پوست ** تلخی و مکروهی‌‌اش خود نهی اوست
The berry that has a sour kernel and rind—its very sourness and disagreeableness are (serve as) a prohibition of it.
دانه‌‌ی مردن مرا شیرین شده ست ** بل هم احیاء پی من آمده ست
To me the berry of dying has become sweet: (the text) nay, they are living has come (from God) on my account.
اقتلونی یا ثقاتی لائما ** إن فی قتلی حیاتی دایما
Slay me, my trusty friends, slay me, vile as I am: verily, in my being slain is my life for evermore.
إن فی موتی حیاتی یا فتی ** کم أفارق موطنی حتی متی3935
Verily, in my death is my life, O youth—how long shall I be parted from my home? Until when?
فرقتی لو لم تکن فی ذا السکون ** لم یقل إنا إليه راجعون
If there were not in my staying (in this world) my separation (from God), He would not have said, ‘Verily, we are returning to Him.’”
راجع آن باشد که باز آید به شهر ** سوی وحدت آید از تفریق دهر
The returning one is he that comes back to his (native) city, and (fleeing) from the separation (plurality) of Time approaches the Unity.
افتادن رکابدار هر باری پیش علی کرم الله وجهه که ای امیر المؤمنین از بهر خدا مرا بکش و از این قضا برهان
How the stirrup-holder of ‘Alí, may God honour his person, came (to him), saying, “For God's sake, kill me and deliver me from this doom.”
باز آمد کای علی زودم بکش ** تا نبینم آن دم و وقت ترش
“He came back, saying, ‘O‘ Alí, kill me quickly, that I may not see that bitter moment and hour.
من حلالت می‌‌کنم خونم بریز ** تا نبیند چشم من آن رستخیز
Shed my blood, I make it lawful to thee, so that my eye may not behold that resurrection’.
گفتم ار هر ذره‌‌ای خونی شود ** خنجر اندر کف به قصد تو رود3940
I said, ‘If every atom should become a murderer and, dagger in hand, go to attack thee,
یک سر مو از تو نتواند برید ** چون قلم بر تو چنان خطی کشید
None (of them) could cut from thee the tip of a single hair, since the Pen has written against thee such a line (of doom).
لیک بی‌‌غم شو شفیع تو منم ** خواجه‌‌ی روحم نه مملوک تنم
But do not grieve: I am intercessor for thee: I am the spirit's master, I am not the body's slave.
پیش من این تن ندارد قیمتی ** بی‌‌تن خویشم فتی ابن الفتی
This body hath no value in my sight: without my body I am the noble (in spirit), the son of the noble.
خنجر و شمشیر شد ریحان من ** مرگ من شد بزم و نرگسدان من
Dagger and sword have become my sweet basil: my death has become my banquet and narcissus-pot.’”
آن که او تن را بدین سان پی کند ** حرص میری و خلافت کی کند3945
He that hamstrings (mortifies) his body in this fashion, how should he covet the Princedom and the Caliphate?
ز آن به ظاهر کوشد اندر جاه و حکم ** تا امیران را نماید راه و حکم
Outwardly he strives after power and authority, (but only) that he may show to princes the (right) way and judgement;
تا امیری را دهد جانی دگر ** تا دهد نخل خلافت را ثمر
That he may give another spirit to the Princedom; that he may give fruit to the palm tree of the Caliphate.
بیان آن که فتح طلبیدن پیغامبر علیه السلام مکه را و غیر مکه را بجهت دوستی ملک دنیا نبود چون فرموده است که الدنیا جیفه بلکه به امر بود
Explaining that the motive of the Prophet, on whom be peace, in seeking to conquer Mecca and other (places) than Mecca was not love of worldly dominion, inasmuch as he has said “This world is a carcase,” but that on the contrary it was by the command (of God).
جهد پیغمبر به فتح مکه هم ** کی بود در حب دنیا متهم
Likewise the Prophet's struggle to conquer Mecca—how can he be suspected of (being inspired by) love of this world?
آن که او از مخزن هفت آسمان ** چشم و دل بر بست روز امتحان
He who on the day of trial shut his eyes and heart to the treasury of the Seven Heavens,
از پی نظاره‌‌ی او حور و جان ** پر شده آفاق هر هفت آسمان3950
(When) the horizons of all the Seven Heavens were full of houris and genies (who had come) to gaze upon him,
خویشتن آراسته از بهر او ** خود و را پروای غیر دوست کو
Having arrayed themselves for his sake—how indeed should he care for anything except the Beloved?
آن چنان پر گشته از اجلال حق ** که در او هم ره نیابد آل حق
He had become so filled with magnification of God, that even those nearest to God would find no way (of intruding) there.
لا یسع فینا نبی مرسل ** و الملک و الروح ایضا فاعقلوا
“In Us (in Our unity) is no room for a prophet sent as an apostle, nor yet for the Angels or the Spirit. Do ye, therefore, understand!”
گفت ما زاغیم همچون زاغ نه ** مست صباغیم مست باغ نه
He (also) said, “We are má zágh (that is, Our eye did not rove), we are not (looking for carrion) like crows (zágh); We are intoxicated with (enraptured by) the Dyer, we are not intoxicated with the garden (of flowers with their many dyes).”
چون که مخزنهای افلاک و عقول ** چون خسی آمد بر چشم رسول3955
Inasmuch as to the eye of the Prophet the treasuries of the celestial spheres and intelligences seemed (worthless) as a straw,
پس چه باشد مکه و شام و عراق ** که نماید او نبرد و اشتیاق
What, then, would Mecca and Syria and ‘Iráq be (worth to him), that he should show fight and longing (to gain possession of them)?
آن گمان بر وی ضمیر بد کند ** که قیاس از جهل و حرص خود کند
(Only) the evil mind which judges by its own ignorance and cupidity will think that of him (impute that motive to him).
آبگینه‌‌ی زرد چون سازی نقاب ** زرد بینی جمله نور آفتاب
When you make yellow glass a veil (between your eyes and the sun), you see all the sunlight yellow.
بشکن آن شیشه‌‌ی کبود و زرد را ** تا شناسی گرد را و مرد را
Break those blue and yellow glasses, in order that you may know (distinguish) the dust and the man (who is concealed by it).