I had bought defective goods: thanks (to God) that I have become aware of their defectiveness in time,
پیش از آن کز دست سرمایه شدی ** عاقبت معیوب بیرون آمدی
Ere the stock-in-trade should go out of my hands and finally come forth (be exposed) as defective.
مال رفته عمر رفته ای نسیب ** ماه و جان داده پی کاله‌ی معیب
My wealth was (all but) gone, my life was (all but) gone, O man of noble lineage: I had (all but) given away my wealth and life for damaged goods.
رخت دادم زر قلبی بستدم ** شاد شادان سوی خانه می‌شدم 1510
I sold my merchandise, I received base gold: I was going home in great jubilation.
شکر کین زر قلب پیدا شد کنون ** پیش از آنک عمر بگذشتی فزون
Thanks (to God) that this gold was shown to be base now, before too much of my life had passed.
قلب ماندی تا ابد در گردنم ** حیف بودی عمر ضایع کردنم
The base coin would have remained (as a shackle) on my neck for ever: to waste my life (thus) would have been an iniquity.
چون بگه‌تر قلبی او رو نمود ** پای خود زو وا کشم من زود زود
Since its (the coin's) baseness has been revealed earlier (in good time), I will step back from it very quickly.”
یار تو چون دشمنی پیدا کند ** گر حقد و رشک او بیرون زند
When your friend displays enmity (and when) the itch of his hatred and jealousy shoots forth (manifests itself),
تو از آن اعراض او افغان مکن ** خویشتن را ابله و نادان مکن 1515
Do not bewail his aversion, do not make yourself (do not let yourself behave as) a fool and ignoramus;
بلک شکر حق کن و نان بخش کن ** که نگشتی در جوال او کهن
Nay, thank God and give bread (alms), (in gratitude) that you have not become old (and rotten) in his sack,
از جوالش زود بیرون آمدی ** تا بجویی یار صدق سرمدی
(But) have quickly come out of his sack to seek the true Eternal Friend,
نازنین یاری که بعد از مرگ تو ** رشته‌ی یاری او گردد سه تو
The delectable Friend whose friendship's cord becomes threefold (thrice as strong) after thy death.
آن مگر سلطان بود شاه رفیع ** یا بود مقبول سلطان و شفیع
That friend, in sooth, may be the (Divine) Sultan and exalted King, or he may be one accepted of the Sultan and one who intercedes (with Him).
رستی از قلاب و سالوس و دغل ** غر او دیدی عیان پیش از اجل 1520
You are (now) delivered from the false coiner and (his) hypocrisy and fraud: you have seen his tumour (imposture) plainly before death.
این جفای خلق با تو در جهان ** گر بدانی گنج زر آمد نهان
If you understood (aright) this injustice shown towards you by the people in the world, it is a hidden treasure of gold.
خلق را با تو چنین بدخو کنند ** تا ترا ناچار رو آن سو کنند
The people are made to be thus evil-natured towards you, that your face may inevitably be turned Yonder.
این یقین دان که در آخر جمله‌شان ** خصم گردند و عدو و سرکشان
Know this for sure that in the end all of them will become adversaries and foes and rebels.
تو بمانی با فغان اندر لحد ** لا تذرنی فرد خواهان از احد
You will be left in the tomb, lamenting and beseeching the One (God), (and crying), “Do not leave me (here) alone!
ای جفاات به ز عهد وافیان ** هم ز داد تست شهد وافیان 1525
O Thou whose harshness is better than the troth of the faithful, the honey (kindness) of the faithful is also from Thy bounty.”
بشنو از عقل خود ای انباردار ** گندم خود را به ارض الله سپار
Hearken to your own reason, O possessor of a granary, and commit your wheat to the earth of Allah,
تا شود آمن ز دزد و از شپش ** دیو را با دیوچه زوتر بکش
That it may be safe from thieves and weevils. Kill the Devil with the wood-fretter (of reason) as quickly as possible;
کو همی ترساندت هم دم ز فقر ** هم‌چو کبکش صید کن ای نره صقر
For he is always frightening you with (the threat of) poverty: make him your prey like a partridge, O valiant hawk.
باز سلطان عزیزی کامیار ** ننگ باشد که کند کبکش شکار
It would be a shame for the falcon of the mighty and fortunate Sultan to be made a prey by the partridge.
بس وصیت کرد و تخم وعظ کاشت ** چون زمین‌شان شوره بد سودی نداشت 1530
He (the father) gave many injunctions (to his sons) and sowed the seed of exhortation, (but) as their soil was nitrous (barren), ’twas of no avail.
گرچه ناصح را بود صد داعیه ** پند را اذنی بباید واعیه
Although the admonisher have a hundred appeals, counsel demands a retentive ear.
تو به صد تلطیف پندش می‌دهی ** او ز پندت می‌کند پهلو تهی
You counsel him (the heedless man) with a hundred courtesies, and he turns aside from your counsel.
یک کس نامستمع ز استیز و رد ** صد کس گوینده را عاجز کند
A single person who obstinately refuses to listen will baffle a hundred (eloquent) speakers.
ز انبیا ناصح‌تر و خوش لهجه‌تر ** کی بود کی گرفت دمشان در حجر
Who should be more persuasive in counselling and sweeter-tongued than the prophets, whose words made an impression (even) on stones?
زانچ کوه و سنگ درکار آمدند ** می‌نشد بدبخت را بگشاده بند 1535
(Yet) the bonds of the ill-fated (infidel) were not being loosed by that whereby mountain and stone were moved.
آنچنان دلها که بدشان ما و من ** نعتشان شدت بل اشد قسوة
Such hearts as had egoism were described (in the words of the Qur’án) nay, harder (than stone).
بیان آنک عطای حق و قدرت موقوف قابلیت نیست هم‌چون داد خلقان کی آن را قابلیت باید زیرا عطا قدیم است و قابلیت حادث عطا صفت حق است و قابلیت صفت مخلوق و قدیم موقوف حادث نباشد و اگر نه حدوث محال باشد
Explaining that the bounty of God and of the (Divine) Omnipotence is not dependent on receptivity, as human bounty is; for in the latter case receptivity is necessary. (In the former case it is not) because (the Divine) bounty is eternal, whereas receptivity is temporal. Bounty is an attribute of the Creator, while receptivity is an attribute of the creature; and the eternal cannot depend on the temporal, otherwise temporality (origination in time) would be absurd.
چاره‌ی آن دل عطای مبدلیست ** داد او را قابلیت شرط نیست
The remedy for such a heart is the gift bestowed by a Transmuter: receptivity is not a necessary condition for His bounty.
بلک شرط قابلیت داد اوست ** داد لب و قابلیت هست پوست
Nay, His bounty is the necessary condition for receptivity: Bounty is the kernel, and receptivity the husk.
اینک موسی را عصا ثعبان شود ** هم‌چو خورشیدی کفش رخشان شود
The change of Moses' rod into a serpent and the shining of his hand like a (resplendent) sun,
صد هزاران معجزات انبیا ** که آن نگنجد در ضمیر و عقل ما 1540
And a hundred thousand miracles of the prophets which are not comprehended by our mind and understanding—
نیست از اسباب تصریف خداست ** نیستها را قابلیت از کجاست
(These) are not derived from secondary causes but are (under) the (direct) control of God: how can receptivity belong to non-existent things?
قابلی گر شرط فعل حق بدی ** هیچ معدومی به هستی نامدی
If receptivity were a necessary condition for God's action, no non-existent thing would come into existence.
سنتی بنهاد و اسباب و طرق ** طالبان را زیر این ازرق تتق
He (God) hath established a (customary) law and causes and means for the sake of those who seek (Him) under this blue veil (of heaven).
بیشتر احوال بر سنت رود ** گاه قدرت خارق سنت شود
Most happenings come to pass according to the (customary) law, (but) sometimes the (Divine) Power breaks the law.
سنت و عادت نهاده با مزه ** باز کرده خرق عادت معجزه 1545
He hath established a goodly law and custom; then He hath made the (evidentiary) miracle a breach of the custom.
بی‌سبب گر عز به ما موصول نیست ** قدرت از عزل سبب معزول نیست
If honour does not reach us without a (mediating) cause, (yet) the (Divine) Power is not remote from the removal of the cause.
ای گرفتار سبب بیرون مپر ** لیک عزل آن مسبب ظن مبر
O thou who art caught by the cause, do not fly outside (of causation); but (at the same time) do not suppose the removal of the Causer.
هر چه خواهد آن مسبب آورد ** قدرت مطلق سببها بر درد
The Causer brings (into existence) whatsoever He will: the Absolute Power tears up (destroys) the causes;
لیک اغلب بر سبب راند نفاذ ** تا بداند طالبی جستن مراد
But, for the most part, He lets the execution (of His will) follow the course of causation, in order that a seeker may be able to pursue the object of his desire.
چون سبب نبود چه ره جوید مرید ** پس سبب در راه می‌باید بدید 1550
When there is no cause, what way should the seeker pursue? Therefore he must have a visible cause in the way (that he is pursuing).
این سببها بر نظرها پرده‌هاست ** که نه هر دیدار صنعش را سزاست
These causes are veils on the eyes, for not every eye is worthy of (contemplating) His work.
دیده‌ای باید سبب سوراخ کن ** تا حجب را بر کند از بیخ و بن
An eye that can penetrate the cause is needed to extirpate (these) veils from root and bottom,
تا مسبب بیند اندر لامکان ** هرزه داند جهد و اکساب و دکان
So that it may behold the Causer in (the world of) non-spatiality and regard exertion and earnings and shops as (mere) nonsense.
از مسبب می‌رسد هر خیر و شر ** نیست اسباب و وسایط ای پدر
Everything good or evil comes from the Causer: causes and means, O father, are naught