Stop up thy word-sweating water-skin, do not open the bag of thy reckless talk.
آنک بر نگذشت اجزاش از زمین ** پیش او معکوس و قلماشیست این
He whose (intellectual and spiritual) parts have not passed beyond the earth— this is absurd and reckless talk in his view.
لا تخالفهم حبیبی دارهم ** یا غریبا نازلا فی دارهم
Do not resist them, O my beloved; deal gently with them, O stranger lodging in their home.
اعط ما شائوا وراموا وارضهم ** یا ظعینا ساکنا فی‌ارضهم
Give (them) what they wish and desire, and satisfy them, O emigrant dwelling in their land.
تا رسیدن در شه و در ناز خوش ** رازیا با مرغزی می‌ساز خویش
Till (the hour of) coming to the king and to sweet delight, O man of Rayy be on good terms with the man of Merv.
موسیا در پیش فرعون زمن ** نرم باید گفت قولا لینا3815
O “Moses,” in presence of the Pharaoh of the time you must speak softly with mild words.
آب اگر در روغن جوشان کنی ** دیگدان و دیگ را ویران کنی
If you put water into boiling oil, you will destroy (both) the trivet and the kettle.
نرم گو لیکن مگو غیر صواب ** وسوسه مفروش در لین الخطاب
Speak softly, but do not speak aught except the truth: do not offer temptation in your mildness of address.
وقت عصر آمد سخن کوتاه کن ** ای که عصرت عصر را آگاه کن
The time of afternoon is come: cut short the discourse, O thou whose expression (of the hidden truth) makes (the people of) the age acquainted (with reality).
گو تو مر گل‌خواره را که قند به ** نرمی فاسد مکن طینش مده
Do thou tell the clay-eater that sugar is better: do not show injurious softness, do not give him clay.
نطق جان را روضه‌ی جانیستی ** گر ز حرف و صوت مستغنیستی3820
Speech would be a spiritual garden to the soul, if it were independent of letters and sounds.
این سر خر در میان قندزار ** ای بسا کس را که بنهادست خار
Oh, there is many a one in whom this donkey's head amidst the sugar plantation has fixed a thorn!
ظن ببرد از دور کان آنست و بس ** چون قج مغلوب وا می‌رفت پس
He, (seeing it) from afar, supposed that it (the sugar-plantation) is just that (donkey's head), nothing more; (so) he was retiring, like a ram vanquished in fight.
صورت حرف آن سر خر دان یقین ** در رز معنی و فردوس برین
Know for sure that the (literal) form (of speech) is (like) that donkey's head in the vineyard and highest Paradise of the spiritual reality.
ای ضیاء الحق حسام الدین در آر ** این سر خر را در آن بطیخ‌زار
O Ziyá’u ’l-Haqq Husámu’ddín, bring this donkey's head into that melon-field,
تا سر خر چون بمرد از مسلخه ** نشو دیگر بخشدش آن مطبخه3825
In order that, when the donkey's head has died to (has passed beyond) the skinning-place, that kitchen may bestow on it another growth (a spiritual regeneration).
هین ز ما صورت‌گری و جان ز تو ** نه غلط هم این خود و هم آن ز تو
Hark, the shaping (of the poem) is from me, and the spirit (of it) from thee; nay, (I spoke) in error: truly both this and that are from thee.
بر فلک محمودی ای خورشید فاش ** بر زمین هم تا ابد محمود باش
Thou art glorified in Heaven, O conspicuous Sun: be thou also glorified on earth unto everlasting,
تا زمینی با سمایی بلند ** یک‌دل و یک‌قبله و یک‌خو شوند
That the inhabitant of the earth may become one in heart and one in aim and one in nature with the sublime celestial.
تفرقه برخیزد و شرک و دوی ** وحدتست اندر وجود معنوی
(Then) separation and polytheism and duality will disappear: in real existence there is (only) unity.
چون شناسد جان من جان ترا ** یاد آرند اتحاد ماجری3830
When my spirit (fully) recognises thy spirit, they (both) remember their being one in the past,
موسی و هارون شوند اندر زمین ** مختلط خوش هم‌چو شیر و انگبین
And on the earth become (as) Moses and Aaron, sweetly mingled like milk and honey.
چون شناسد اندک و منکر شود ** منکری‌اش پرده‌ی ساتر شود
When it (my spirit) recognises (thy spirit) a little and (then) denies (it), its denial becomes a veil covering (the truth).
پس شناسایی بگردانید رو ** خشم کرد آن مه ز ناشکری او
Many a one who recognised (part of the truth) averted his face: that Moon was angered by his ingratitude.
زین سبب جان نبی را جان بد ** ناشناسا گشت و پشت پای زد
Hence the evil spirit became unable to recognise the spirit of the Prophet and turned on its heel.
این همه خواندی فرو خوان لم یکن ** تا بدانی لج این گبر کهن3835
You have read all this: read (the Súra beginning with the words) Lam yakun, that you may know the obstinacy of that old infidel.
پیش از آنک نقش احمد فر نمود ** نعت او هر گبر را تعویذ بود
Ere the (bodily) form of Ahmad (Mohammed) displayed its glory, the description of him (in the Pentateuch and the Gospel) was a phylactery for every infidel.
کین چنین کس هست تا آید پدید ** از خیال روش دلشان می‌طپید
“There is some one like this” (they said): “(let us wait) till he shall appear”; and their hearts were throbbing at the imagination of (seeing) his face.
سجده می‌کردند کای رب بشر ** در عیان آریش هر چه زودتر
They were prostrating themselves (in prayer), crying, “O Lord of mankind, wilt Thou bring him before our eyes as quickly as may be?”
تا به نام احمد از یستفتحون ** یاغیانشان می‌شدندی سرنگون
(This they did) in order that, by asking (God) to grant them victory in the name of Ahmad, their enemies might be overthrown.
هر کجا حرب مهولی آمدی ** غوثشان کراری احمد بدی3840
Whenever a formidable war arose, Ahmad's pertinacity in onset was always their succour;
هر کجا بیماری مزمن بدی ** یاد اوشان داروی شافی شدی
Wherever there was a chronic sickness, mention (invocation) of him (Ahmad) was always their healing medicine.
نقش او می‌گشت اندر راهشان ** در دل و در گوش و در افواهشان
In (all) their way his form was coming into their hearts and into their ears and into their mouths.
نقش او را کی بیابد هر شعال ** بلک فرع نقش او یعنی خیال
How should every jackal perceive his (real) form? Nay, (they perceived only) the derivative of his form, that is to say, the imaginal idea (of it).
نقش او بر روی دیوار ار فتد ** از دل دیوار خون دل چکد
If his (real) form should fall on the face of a wall, heart's blood would trickle from the heart of the wall;
آنچنان فرخ بود نقشش برو ** که رهد در حال دیوار از دو رو3845
And his form would be so auspicious for it (would bestow such blessing on it) that the wall would at once be saved from having a double face.
گشته با یک‌رویی اهل صفا ** آن دورویی عیب مر دیوار را
Beside the single-facedness (sincerity) of the pure (in spirit), that double-facedness has become a fault (even) in the wall.
این همه تعظیم و تفخیم و وداد ** چون بدیدندش به صورت برد باد
All this veneration and magnification and affection (which they had shown towards the Prophet) the wind swept away, as soon as they saw him in (bodily) form.
قلب آتش دید و در دم شد سیاه ** قلب را در قلب کی بودست راه
The false coin saw the fire and immediately became black: when has there (ever) been a way for the false coin (of hypocrisy) to enter the (pure) heart?
قلب می‌زد لاف اشواق محک ** تا مریدان را دراندازد به شک
The false coin was talking boastfully of its desire for the touchstone, that it might cast the (sincere) disciples into doubt.
افتد اندر دام مکرش ناکسی ** این گمان سر بر زند از هر خسی3850
A worthless one falls into the snare of its deceit; (for) from every base fellow the thought pops up,
کین اگر نه نقد پاکیزه بدی ** کی به سنگ امتحان راغب شدی
That if this were not genuine coin, how should it have become eager for the touchstone?
او محک می‌خواهد اما آنچنان ** که نگردد قلبی او زان عیان
It desires the touchstone, but one of such a kind that its falseness will not be clearly exposed thereby.
آن محک که او نهان دارد صفت ** نی محک باشد نه نور معرفت
The touchstone that keeps hidden the quality (of that which is tested) is not a (true) touchstone, nor (is it) the (discriminating) light of knowledge.
آینه کو عیب رو دارد نهان ** از برای خاطر هر قلتبان
The mirror that keeps hidden the defects of the face to flatter every cuckold
آینه نبود منافق باشد او ** این چنین آیینه تا توانی مجو3855
Is not a (true) mirror; it is hypocritical. Do not seek such a mirror so long as you can (help).