چون زر اندود است خوبی در بشر ** ور نه چون شد شاهد تو پیر خر

Beauty in humankind is like gilding; else, how did your sweetheart become (as ugly as) an old ass?

چون فرشته بود همچون دیو شد ** کان ملاحت اندر او عاریه بد

She was like an angel, she became like a demon, for that loveliness in her was a borrowed (transient) thing.

اندک اندک می‏ستانند آن جمال ** اندک اندک خشک می‏گردد نهال‏

Little by little they take away that beauty: little by little the sapling withers.

رو نعمره ننکسه بخوان ** دل طلب کن دل منه بر استخوان‏ 715

Go, recite (the text) to whom so We grant length of days, him We cause to decline. Seek the heart (spirit), set not thy heart on bones;

کان جمال دل جمال باقی است ** دولتش از آب حیوان ساقی است‏

For that beauty of the heart is the lasting beauty: its fortune gives to drink of the Water of Life.

خود هم او آب است و هم ساقی و مست ** هر سه یک شد چون طلسم تو شکست‏

Truly it is both the water and the giver of drink and the drunken: all three become one when your talisman is shattered.

آن یکی را تو ندانی از قیاس ** بندگی کن ژاژ کم خا ناشناس‏

That oneness you cannot know by reasoning. Do service (to God) and refrain from foolish gabble, O undiscerning man!

معنی تو صورت است و عاریت ** بر مناسب شادی و بر قافیت‏

Your reality is the form and that which is borrowed: you rejoice in what is relative and (secondary like) rhyme.

معنی آن باشد که بستاند ترا ** بی‏نیاز از نقش گرداند ترا 720

Reality is that which seizes (enraptures) you and makes you independent of form.

معنی آن نبود که کور و کر کند ** مرد را بر نقش عاشق‏تر کند

Reality is not that which makes blind and deaf and causes a man to be more in love with form.

کور را قسمت خیال غم فزاست ** بهره‏ی چشم این خیالات فناست‏

The portion of the blind is the fancy that increases pain; the share of the (spiritual) eye is these fancies (ideas) of dying to self (faná).

حرف قرآن را ضریران معدن‏اند ** خر نبینند و به پالان بر زنند

The blind are a mine (full) of the letter of the Qur’án: they do not see the ass, and (only) cling to the pack-saddle.

چون تو بینایی پی خر رو که جست ** چند پالان دوزی ای پالان پرست‏

Since you have sight, go after the ass which has jumped (away from you): how long (will you persist in) stitching the saddle, O saddle-worshipper?

خر چو هست آید یقین پالان ترا ** کم نگردد نان چو باشد جان ترا 725

When the ass is there, the saddle will certainly be yours: bread does not fail when you have the (vital) spirit.

پشت خر دکان و مال و مکسب است ** در قلبت مایه‏ی صد قالب است‏

(On) the back of the ass is shop and wealth and gain; the pearl of your heart is the stock (which provides wealth) for a hundred bodies.

خر برهنه بر نشین ای بو الفضول ** خر برهنه نه که راکب شد رسول‏

Mount the ass bare-backed, O busybody: did not the Prophet ride the ass bare-backed?

النبی قد رکب معروریا ** و النبی قیل سافر ماشیا

The Prophet rode (his beast) bare-backed; and the Prophet, it is said, journeyed on foot.

شد خر نفس تو بر میخیش بند ** چند بگریزد ز کار و بار چند

The ass, your fleshly soul, has gone off; tie it to a peg. How long will it run away from work and burden, how long?

بار صبر و شکر او را بردنی است ** خواه در صد سال و خواهی سی و بیست‏ 730

It must bear the burden of patience and thanksgiving, whether for a hundred years or for thirty or twenty.

هیچ وازر وزر غیری بر نداشت ** هیچ کس ندرود تا چیزی نکاشت‏

None that is laden supported another's load; none reaped until he sowed something.

طمع خام است آن مخور خام ای پسر ** خام خوردن علت آرد در بشر

’Tis a raw (absurd) hope; eat not what is raw, O son: eating raw brings illness to men.

کان فلانی یافت گنجی ناگهان ** من همان خواهم نه کار و نه دکان‏

(Do not say to yourself), “So-and-so suddenly found a treasure; I would like the same: neither work nor shop (for me)!”

کار بخت است آن و آن هم نادر است ** کسب باید کرد تا تن قادر است‏

That (discovery of treasure) is Fortune's doing (a piece of luck), and moreover it is rare: one must earn a living so long as the body is able.

کسب کردن گنج را مانع کی است ** پا مکش از کار آن خود در پی است‏ 735

How does earning a livelihood prevent the (discovery of) treasure? Do not retire from work: that (treasure), indeed, is (following) behind (the work).

تا نگردی تو گرفتار اگر ** که اگر این کردمی یا آن دگر

See that you are not made captive by “if,” saying, “If I had done this or the other (thing),”

کز اگر گفتن رسول با وفاق ** منع کرد و گفت آن هست از نفاق‏

For the sincere Prophet forbade (people) to say “if,” and said, “That is from hypocrisy”;

کان منافق در اگر گفتن بمرد ** وز اگر گفتن بجز حسرت نبرد

For the hypocrite died in saying “if,” and from saying “if” he won nothing but remorse.

مثل

Parable.

آن غریبی خانه می‏جست از شتاب ** دوستی بردش سوی خانه‏ی خراب‏

A certain stranger was hastily seeking a house: a friend took him to a house in ruins.

گفت او این را اگر سقفی بدی ** پهلوی من مر ترا مسکن شدی‏ 740

He said (to the stranger), “If this (house) had a roof, it would be a home for you beside me.

هم عیال تو بیاسودی اگر ** در میانه داشتی حجره‏ی دگر

Your family too would be comfortable, if it had another room in it.”

گفت آری پهلوی یاران خوش است ** لیک ای جان در اگر نتوان نشست‏

“Yes,” said he, “it is nice (to be) beside friends, but my dear soul, one cannot lodge in ‘if’.”

این همه عالم طلب‏کار خوشند ** وز خوش تزویر اندر آتشند

All the world are seekers of happiness, and on account of a false happiness they are in the fire.

طالب زر گشته جمله پیر و خام ** لیک قلب از زر نداند چشم عام‏

Old and young have become gold-seekers, but the common eye does not distinguish alloy from gold.

پرتوی بر قلب زد خالص ببین ** بی‏محک زر را مکن از ظن گزین‏ 745

The pure (gold) shot a beam on the alloy: see that you choose not the gold on the ground of (mere) opinion, without a touchstone.

گر محک داری گزین کن ور نه رو ** نزد دانا خویشتن را کن گرو

If you have a touchstone, choose; otherwise, go, devote yourself to him that knows (the difference).

یا محک باید میان جان خویش ** ور ندانی ره مرو تنها تو پیش‏

Either you must have a touchstone within your own soul, or if you know not the Way, do not go forward alone.

بانگ غولان هست بانگ آشنا ** آشنایی که کشد سوی فنا

The cry of the ghouls is the cry of an acquaintance—an acquaintance who would lure you to perdition.

بانگ می‏دارد که هان ای کاروان ** سوی من آیید نک راه و نشان‏

She (the ghoul) keeps on crying, “Hark, O caravan people! Come towards me, here is the track and the landmarks.”

نام هر یک می‏برد غول ای فلان ** تا کند آن خواجه را از آفلان‏ 750

The ghoul mentions the name of each, saying “O so-and-so,” in order that she may make that personage one of those who sink.

چون رسد آن جا ببیند گرگ و شیر ** عمر ضایع راه دور و روز دیر

When he reaches the spot, he sees wolves and lions, his life lost, the road far off, and the day late.

چون بود آن بانگ غول آخر بگو ** مال خواهم جاه خواهم و آبرو

Prithee say, what is the ghoul's cry like? (It is) “I desire riches, I desire position and renown.”

از درون خویش این آوازها ** منع کن تا کشف گردد رازها

Prevent these voices from (entering) your heart, so that (spiritual) mysteries may be revealed.

ذکر حق کن بانگ غولان را بسوز ** چشم نرگس را از این کرکس بدوز

Repeat (in prayer) the name of God, drown the cry of the ghouls, close your narcissus eye to this vulture.

صبح کاذب را ز صادق واشناس ** رنگ می را باز دان از رنگ کاس‏ 755

Know the difference between the false dawn and the true, distinguish the colour of the wine from the colour of the cup,

تا بود کز دیده‏گان هفت رنگ ** دیده‏ای پیدا کند صبر و درنگ‏

That, perchance, from the eyes which see the seven colours patience and waiting may produce a (spiritual) eye,

رنگها بینی بجز این رنگها ** گوهران بینی به جای سنگها

(With which) you may behold colours other than these, and may behold pearls instead of stones.

گوهر چه بلکه دریایی شوی ** آفتاب چرخ پیمایی شوی‏

What pearl? Nay, you will become an ocean, you will become a sun traversing the sky.

کار کن در کارگه باشد نهان ** تو برو در کارگه بینش عیان‏

The Worker is hidden in the workshop: go you and in the workshop see Him plain.

کار چون بر کار کن پرده تنید ** خارج آن کار نتوانیش دید 760

Inasmuch as the work has woven a veil over the Worker, you cannot see Him outside of that work.

کارگه چون جای باش عامل است ** آن که بیرون است از وی غافل است‏

Since the workshop is the dwelling-place of the Worker, he that is outside is unaware of Him.