کوری تو حق مرا خود برگزید ** سرنگون شد آنچ نفست می‌پزید2335
In despite of thee God Himself chose me out: that (plot) which thy soul was concocting was overthrown.”
گفت اینها را بهل بی‌هیچ شک ** این بود حق من و نان و نمک
He (Pharaoh) said, “Let these things be without any doubt (grant that all this is true): is it (the gratitude) due to me and to the bread and salt (which thou hast eaten)
که مرا پیش حشر خواری کنی ** روز روشن بر دلم تاری کنی
That thou shouldst treat me with contumely in the presence of the assembled people and make the bright day dark to my heart?”
گفت خواری قیامت صعب‌تر ** گر نداری پاس من در خیر و شر
He (Moses) said, “The contumely of the Resurrection is more grievous, (which thou wilt suffer) if thou do not pay regard to me in good and evil.
زخم کیکی را نمی‌توانی کشید ** زخم ماری را تو چون خواهی چشید
Thou canst not bear the bite of a flea: how wilt thou taste (endure) the bite of a snake?
ظاهرا کار تو ویران می‌کنم ** لیک خاری را گلستان می‌کنم2340
In appearance I am ruining thy work, but (in reality) I am making a thorn into a rose-garden.
بیان آنک عمارت در ویرانیست و جمعیت در پراکندگیست و درستی در شکست‌گیست و مراد در بی‌مرادیست و وجود در عدم است و علی هذا بقیة الاضداد والازواج
Explaining that cultivation consists in devastation and composure in distraction and wholeness in brokenness and success in failure and existence in non-existence; and thus (with) the rest of the contraries and pairs.
آن یکی آمد زمین را می‌شکافت ** ابلهی فریاد کرد و بر نتافت
A certain man came and was cleaving the soil: a fool cried out and could not control himself,
کین زمین را از چه ویران می‌کنی ** می‌شکافی و پریشان می‌کنی
Saying, ‘Wherefore are you ruining this soil and cleaving and scattering it?’
گفت ای ابله برو و بر من مران ** تو عمارت از خرابی باز دان
‘O fool,’ said he, ‘begone, do not interfere with me: recognise (the difference of) cultivation from devastation.
کی شود گلزار و گندم‌زار این ** تا نگردد زشت و ویران این زمین
How should this (soil) become a rose-garden or cornfield till this soil becomes ugly and ruined?
کی شود بستان و کشت و برگ و بر ** تا نگردد نظم او زیر و زبر2345
How should it become orchards and crops and leaves and fruit till its arrangement is turned upside down?’
تا بنشکافی به نشتر ریش چغز ** کی شود نیکو و کی گردید نغز
Till you pierce the purulent ulcer with a lancet, how will it become well and how will you become healthy?
تا نشوید خلطهاات از دوا ** کی رود شورش کجا آید شفا
Till he (the physician) cleanse your (corrupt) humours with medicine, how will the indisposition be removed? How will a cure be effected?
پاره پاره کرده درزی جامه را ** کس زند آن درزی علامه را
When a tailor cuts (the cloth for) a garment piece by piece, will any one strike that expert tailor,
که چرا این اطلس بگزیده را ** بردریدی چه کنم بدریده را
Saying, ‘Why have you torn this choice satin? What can I do with a torn (garment)?’
هر بنای کهنه که آبادان کنند ** نه که اول کهنه را ویران کنند2350
Whenever they (the builders) put an old building in good repair, do not they first ruin the old one?
هم‌چنین نجار و حداد و قصاب ** هستشان پیش از عمارتها خراب
Likewise the carpenter, the iron-smith and the butcher—with them (too) there is destruction before restorations.
آن هلیله و آن بلیله کوفتن ** زان تلف گردند معموری تن
The pounding of myrobalan and bastard myrobalan—by reason of that destruction they become the means of restoring the body (to health).
تا نکوبی گندم اندر آسیا ** کی شود آراسته زان خوان ما
Until you crush wheat in the mill, how will our table be garnished with it?
آن تقاضا کرد آن نان و نمک ** که ز شستت وا رهانم ای سمک
(The obligation of gratitude for) that bread and salt (of thine) demanded that I should deliver thee, O fish, from the net.
گر پذیری پند موسی وا رهی ** از چنین شست بد نامنتهی2355
If thou accept the counsel of Moses, thou wilt escape from such an evil infinite net.
بس که خود را کرده‌ای بنده‌ی هوا ** کرمکی را کرده‌ای تو اژدها
Inasmuch as thou hast made thyself the slave of sensuality, thou hast made a petty worm into a dragon.
اژدها را اژدها آورده‌ام ** تا با صلاح آورم من دم به دم
I have brought a dragon for (thy) dragon, that I may correct (thy dragon's) breath by (my dragon's) breath,
تا دم آن از دم این بشکند ** مار من آن اژدها را بر کند
So that the breath of that one may be defeated by the breath of this one, and that my serpent may destroy that dragon (of thine).
گر رضا دادی رهیدی از دو مار ** ورنه از جانت برآرد آن دمار
If thou submittest, thou art freed from two serpents; otherwise, it (thy dragon) will bring thy spirit to utter perdition.”
گفت الحق سخت استا جادوی ** که در افکندی به مکر اینجا دوی2360
He (Pharaoh) said, “In truth, thou art an exceedingly cunning sorcerer, for by craft thou hast introduced duality (disunion) here.
خلق یک‌دل را تو کردی دو گروه ** جادوی رخنه کند در سنگ و کوه
Thou hast made the unanimous people into two factions: sorcery makes fissures in rock and mountain.”
گفت هستم غرق پیغام خدا ** جادوی کی دید با نام خدا
He (Moses) said, “I am submerged in the message of God: who (ever) saw sorcery together with the name of God?
غفلت و کفرست مایه‌ی جادوی ** مشعله‌ی دینست جان موسوی
The substance of sorcery is forgetfulness (of God) and unbelief: the spirit of Moses is the flaming torch of the (true) religion.
من به جادویان چه مانم ای وقیح ** کز دمم پر رشک می‌گردد مسیح
How do I resemble sorcerers, O impudent one?—for the Messiah (Jesus) is becoming jealous of my (life-giving) breath.
من به جادویان چه مانم ای جنب ** که ز جانم نور می‌گیرد کتب2365
How do I resemble sorcerers, O polluted one?—for the (Revealed) Books are receiving light from my spirit.
چون تو با پر هوا بر می‌پری ** لاجرم بر من گمان آن می‌بری
Since thou art soaring on the wings of sensuality, inevitably thou bearest (in thy heart) that (ill) thought against me.”
هر کرا افعال دام و دد بود ** بر کریمانش گمان بد بود
Every one whose actions are those of wild beasts hath ill thoughts against the noble.
چون تو جزو عالمی هر چون بوی ** کل را بر وصف خود بینی سوی
Since thou art a part of the world, howsoever thou art thou deemest all to be of the same description as thyself, misguided man.
گر تو برگردی و بر گردد سرت ** خانه را گردنده بیند منظرت
If thou whirl round and thy head whirl round, thy (organ of) sight sees the house whirling round;
ور تو در کشتی روی بر یم روان ** ساحل یم را همی بینی دوان2370
And if thou embark in a ship moving on the sea, thou deemest the seashore to be running (along).
گر تو باشی تنگ‌دل از ملحمه ** تنگ بینی جمله دنیا را همه
If thou art narrow (oppressed) at heart from (being engaged in) combat, thou deemest the whole atmosphere of the world to be narrow;
ور تو خوش باشی به کام دوستان ** این جهان بنمایدت چون گلستان
And if thou art happy as thy friends would desire, this world seems to thee like a garden of roses.
ای بسا کس رفته تا شام و عراق ** او ندیده هیچ جز کفر و نفاق
How many a one has gone as far as Syria and ‘Iráq and has seen nothing but unbelief and hypocrisy;
وی بسا کس رفته تا هند و هری ** او ندیده جز مگر بیع و شری
And how many a one has gone as far as India and Hirá (Herát) and seen nothing but selling and buying;
وی بسا کس رفته ترکستان و چین ** او ندیده هیچ جز مکر و کمین2375
And how many a one has gone as far as Turkistán and China and seen nothing but deceit and hidden guile!
چون ندارد مدرکی جز رنگ و بو ** جمله‌ی اقلیمها را گو بجو
Since he has no object of perception save colour and perfume (external phenomena), let him seek (through) all the climes, (he will see nothing spiritual).
گاو در بغداد آید ناگهان ** بگذرد او زین سران تا آن سران
(If) a cow come suddenly into Baghdád and pass from this side (of the city) to that (farther) side,
از همه عیش و خوشیها و مزه ** او نبیند جز که قشر خربزه
Of all (its) pleasures and joys and delights she will see nothing but the rind of a water-melon.
که بود افتاده بر ره یا حشیش ** لایق سیران گاوی یا خریش
(If) straw or hay has fallen on the road, (it is) suitable to his (such a one's) bovine or asinine disposition.
خشک بر میخ طبیعت چون قدید ** بسته‌ی اسباب جانش لا یزید2380
(Hanging) dry on the nail of (his bestial) nature, like strips of meat (exposed to the sun), his spirit, bound with (the cords of) secondary causes, does not grow;
وان فضای خرق اسباب و علل ** هست ارض الله ای صدر اجل
But the spacious realm where means and causes are torn to shreds (transcended) is the earth of God, O most honourable sire.
هر زمان مبدل شود چون نقش جان ** نو به نو بیند جهانی در عیان
It is ever changing, like a (fleeting) picture: the spirit beholds in clairvoyance a world (appearing) anew and anew.
گر بود فردوس و انهار بهشت ** چون فسرده‌ی یک صفت شد گشت زشت
(Everything), though it be Paradise and the rivers of Eden, becomes ugly when it is congealed (fixed permanently) in one aspect.
بیان آنک هر حس مدرکی را از آدمی نیز مدرکاتی دیگرست کی از مدرکات آن حس دگر بی‌خبرست چنانک هر پیشه‌ور استاد اعجمی کار آن استاد دگر پیشه‌ورست و بی‌خبری او از آنک وظیفه‌ی او نیست دلیل نکند کی آن مدرکات نیست اگر چه به حکم حال منکر بود آن را اما از منکری او اینجا جز بی‌خبری نمی‌خواهیم درین مقام
Explaining that every percipient sense of man has different objects of perception too, of which the other senses are ignorant, as (for example) every skilled craftsman is unfamiliar with the work of those skilled in other crafts; and its (another sense's) ignorance of that which is not its business does not prove that those objects of perception are non-existent. Although it virtually denies them, yet here in this place we only mean by its ‘denial’ its ignorance.
Thy perception is the measure of thy vision of the world: thy impure senses are the veil (which prevents thee from having sight) of the pure (holy men).