Hark, show the white hand, O King: out of the black nights reveal a new dawn!
دوزخی افروخت در وی دم فسون ** ای دم تو از دم دریا فزون
A hell hath blazed forth; breathe (thy) enchantment over it, O thou whose breath is more (excellent) than the breath of the sea.
بحر مکار است بنموده کفی ** دوزخ است از مکر بنموده تفی2290
She (the fleshly soul) is the guileful sea that shows (but) a (little) foam; she is the hell that from guile shows (but) a (little) heat.
ز آن نماید مختصر در چشم تو ** تا زبون بینیش جنبد خشم تو
She appears exiguous in your eyes, to the end that you may regard her as feeble and that your wrath may be stirred (against her);
همچنان که لشکر انبوه بود ** مر پیمبر را به چشم اندک نمود
Even as there was a dense host (of infidels), (but) to the Prophet’s eye it seemed small,
تا بر ایشان زد پیمبر بیخطر ** ور فزون دیدی از آن کردی حذر
So that the Prophet set upon them without (fear of) the danger; but if he had deemed (them) more (in number), he would have acted cautiously in that (affair).
آن عنایت بود و اهل آن بدی ** احمدا ور نه تو بد دل میشدی
That was the Divine favour, and thou wert worthy of it, O Ahmad (Mohammed); else, thou wouldst have become faint-hearted.
کم نمود او را و اصحاب و را ** آن جهاد ظاهر وباطن خدا2295
God caused the outward and inward warfare to seem little to him and his Companions,
تا میسر کرد یسری را بر او ** تا ز عسری او بگردانید رو
In order that He might make it easy for him to gain ease (success), and that he might turn away his face from difficulty (unsuccess).
کم نمودن مر و را پیروز بود ** که حقش یار و طریق آموز بود
For him, (God’s) causing (the warfare) to seem little was victory, since God was his friend and taught him the way.
آن که حق پشتش نباشد از ظفر ** وای اگر گربش نماید شیر نر
(But) he that hath not God for his victorious support, alas if the fierce lion seem to him a cat.
وای اگر صدرا یکی بیند ز دور ** تا به چالش اندر آید از غرور
Alas if from afar he see a hundred as one, so that in vain confidence he enters on the fray.
ز آن نماید ذو الفقاری حربهای ** ز آن نماید شیر نر چون گربهای2300
He (God) causes a Prophet’s sword to seem a dart and makes the fierce lion appear as a cat,
تا دلیر اندر فتد احمق به جنگ ** و اندر آردشان بدین حیلت به چنگ
To the end that the fool may fall boldly to fighting, and that He may catch them by this device;
تا به پای خویش باشند آمده ** آن فلیوان جانب آتشکده
(And besides He is acting thus), in order that those dolts may have come towards the fire-temple by means of their own feet (by their own free will).
کاه برگی مینماید تا تو زود ** پف کنی کاو را برانی از وجود
He is showing (what seems to you) a blade of straw, in order that you may quickly give a puff so as to make it vanish out of existence.
هین که آن که کوهها بر کنده است ** زو جهان گریان و او در خنده است
Beware! for that straw has uprooted mountains: through it the world is weeping, while it (the straw) is in laughter.
مینماید تا به کعب این آب جو ** صد چو عاج ابن عنق شد غرق او2305
He makes this river-water seem (only) up to the ankle, (but) a hundred such as Áj son of 'Unuq have ben drowned therein.
مینماید موج خونش تل مشک ** مینماید قعر دریا خاک خشک
He makes the wave of blood seem to him a mound of musk: He makes the bottom of the sea seem dry land.
خشک دید آن بحر را فرعون کور ** تا در او راند از سر مردی و زور
Blind Pharaoh deemed that sea dry, so that in (the pride of his) manhood and strength he drave into it.
چون در آید در تگ دریا بود ** دیدهی فرعون کی بینا بود
When he enters (it), he is at the bottom of the sea: how should the eye of Pharaoh be seeing?
دیده بینا از لقای حق شود ** حق کجا هم راز هر احمق شود
The eye is made seeing by meeting with God: how should God become the confidant of every fool?
قند بیند خود شود زهر قتول ** راه بیند خود بود آن بانگ غول2310
He (the fool) sees (what he thinks is) candy: it is, in sooth, deadly poison; he sees (what he thinks is) the road: it is, in sooth, the cry of the ghoul (luring him to destruction).
ای فلک در فتنهی آخر زمان ** تیز میگردی بده آخر زمان
O sky, in the tribulation of (these) latter days thou art revolving swiftly; pray, give (us) time (respite and relief).
خنجر تیزی تو اندر قصد ما ** نیش زهر آلودهای در فصد ما
Thou art a keen dagger to assail us; thou art a poisoned lancet to bleed us.
ای فلک از رحم حق آموز رحم ** بر دل موران مزن چون مار زخم
O sky, learn mercy from the Mercy of God: do not, like a snake, inflict wounds on the hearts of ants.
حق آن که چرخهی چرخ ترا ** کرد گردان بر فراز این سرا
By the truth of Him who hath set the wheel of thy sphere turning above this (earthly) abode,
که دگرگون گردی و رحمت کنی ** پیش از آن که بیخ ما را بر کنی2315
(We beseech thee to) revolve in another wise and show mercy, ere thou uproot us.
حق آن که دایگی کردی نخست ** تا نهال ما ز آب و خاک رست
(We beseech thee by) the truth of thy having fostered us at first, so that our (young) shoot grew up from (the nurture given by) water and earth;
حق آن شه که ترا صاف آفرید ** کرد چندان مشعله در تو پدید
By the truth of that King who created thee pure and displayed so many cressets in thee,
آن چنان معمور و باقی داشتت ** تا که دهری از ازل پنداشتت
Who hath kept thee so flourishing and lasting that the materialist hath thought thee (existent) from eternity.
شکر دانستیم آغاز ترا ** انبیا گفتند آن راز ترا
Thanks (to God), we have come to know thy beginning: the prophets have told that secret of thine.
آدمی داند که خانه حادث است ** عنکبوتی نه که در وی عابث است2320
A man knows that a house is made (at some time or other); the spider which plays idly in it (knows) not (this).
پشه کی داند که این باغ از کی است ** کاو بهاران زاد و مرگش در دی است
How should the gnat know of what date this garden is?––for ‘twas born in spring, and its death is in the (following) winter.
کرم کاندر چوب زاید سست حال ** کی بداند چوب را وقت نهال
The worm that is born miserably in (dry) wood––how should it know the wood at the time when it was a (sappy) shoot?
ور بداند کرم از ماهیتش ** عقل باشد کرم باشد صورتش
And if the worm should know (this), it would be intellect in its essential substance; the worm would be (only) its (outward) form.
عقل خود را مینماید رنگها ** چون پری دور است از آن فرسنگها
Intellect shows itself (in many) guises, (but) like the Jinn is leagues removed from them (in its real nature).
از ملک بالاست چه جای پری ** تو مگس پری به پستی میپری2325
It is above the angels––what occasion is there for (comparing it with) the Jinn? (But) you have the wings of a gnat, you are flying downwards.
گر چه عقلت سوی بالا میپرد ** مرغ تقلیدت به پستی میچرد
Although your intellect is flying upward, the bird of your conventional notions is feeding below.