تهمتی بر بنده شه را عار نیست ** جز مزید حلم و استظهار نیست
An accusation against a (guilty) servant is no disgrace to the King: it is only (a means of) increasing (His) forbearance and (the servant's) reliance (on His protection).
متهم را شاه چون قارون کند ** بی‌گنه را تو نظر کن چون کند
Inasmuch as the King makes one who is accused (rich as) Qárún (Korah), consider how He will act towards one who is innocent.
شاه را غافل مدان از کار کس ** مانع اظهار آن حلمست و بس
Deem not the King to be ignorant of any one's actions: ’tis only His forbearance that prevents it (the evil action) from being brought to light.
من هنا یشفع به پیش علم او ** لا ابالی‌وار الا حلم او
Here who shall recklessly intercede with His knowledge— (who) except His forbearance?
آن گنه اول ز حلمش می‌جهد ** ورنه هیبت آن مجالش کی دهد 2100
The sin arises at first from His forbearance; otherwise, how should His awful majesty give (any) room for it (to arise)?
خونبهای جرم نفس قاتله ** هست بر حلمش دیت بر عاقله
(Payment of) the blood-price for the crime of the murderous carnal soul falls on His forbearance: the blood-wit is (an obligation) on the (murderer's) kin.
مست و بی‌خود نفس ما زان حلم بود ** دیو در مستی کلاه از وی ربود
Our carnal soul was intoxicated and made beside itself by that forbearance: during its intoxication the Devil snatched away its cap.
Unless the Sáqí, Forbearance, had poured (the intoxicating) wine, how should the Devil have quarrelled with Adam?
گاه علم آدم ملایک را کی بود ** اوستاد علم و نقاد نقود
At the time of (his being in possession of) knowledge, who was Adam in relation to the angels? (He was) the teacher of knowledge and the assayer of (its) coins.
چونک در جنت شراب حلم خورد ** شد ز یک بازی شیطان روی زرد 2105
After he had drunk the wine of (God's) forbearance in Paradise, he was confounded by a single trick of Satan.
آن بلادرهای تعلیم ودود ** زیرک و دانا و چستش کرده بود
The doses of anacardium, (namely), the lessons (given to him) by the Loving One, had made him sagacious and wise and clever;
باز آن افیون حلم سخت او ** دزد را آورد سوی رخت او
(But) afterwards the potent opium of His forbearance brought the Thief to (carry away) his (Adam's) property.
عقل آید سوی حلمش مستجیر ** ساقیم تو بوده‌ای دستم بگیر
Reason comes to seek refuge with His forbearance, (saying), “Thou hast been my Sáqí (Thou hast intoxicated me): take my hand (succour me)!”
فرمودن شاه ایاز را کی اختیار کن از عفو و مکافات کی از عدل و لطف هر چه کنی اینجا صوابست و در هر یکی مصلحتهاست کی در عدل هزار لطف هست درج و لکم فی القصاص حیوة آنکس کی کراهت می‌دارد قصاص را درین یک حیات قاتل نظر می‌کند و در صد هزار حیات کی معصوم و محقون خواهند شدن در حصن بیم سیاست نمی‌نگرد
How the King said to Ayáz, “Choose either to pardon or to punish, for in the present case ’tis (equally) right whether you do justice or show mercy; and there are advantages in each.” Within justice a thousand mercies are enclosed: (God hath said), “and for you in retaliation there is a life.” He who deems retaliation abominable is regarding only the single life of the murderer and does not consider the hundreds of thousands of lives that will be protected and kept safe, as in a fortress, by fear of punishment.
کن میان مجرمان حکم ای ایاز ** ای ایاز پاک با صد احتراز
“O Ayáz, pass sentence on the culprits! O incorruptible Ayáz who takest infinite precautions (to keep thyself pure),
گر دو صد بارت بجوشم در عمل ** در کف جوشت نیابم یک دغل 2110
Though I boil (test) thee in practice two hundred times, I do not find any refuse in the foam of thy boiling.
ز امتحان شرمنده خلقی بی‌شمار ** امتحانها از تو جمله شرمسار
A countless multitude of people are ashamed of (being put to) the test, (but) all tests are ashamed of (being tried on) thee.
بحر بی‌قعرست تنها علم نیست ** کوه و صد کوهست این خود حلم نیست
It (thy knowledge) is a bottomless ocean: it is not (creaturely) knowledge alone; it (thy forbearance) is a mountain and a hundred mountains: indeed, it is not (creaturely) forbearance.”
گفت من دانم عطای تست این ** ورنه من آن چارقم و آن پوستین
He (Ayáz) replied, “I know that this is thy gift; otherwise I am (nothing except) those rustic shoon and that sheepskin jacket.”
بهر آن پیغامبر این را شرح ساخت ** هر که خود بشناخت یزدان را شناخت
Hence the Prophet expounded this (matter), (when he said), “Whoso knoweth himself knoweth God.”
چارقت نطفه‌ست و خونت پوستین ** باقی ای خواجه عطای اوست این 2115
The seed (from which you were conceived) is your shoon, and your blood is the sheepskin jacket: (all) the rest, O master, is His gift.
بهر آن دادست تا جویی دگر ** تو مگو که نیستش جز این قدر
He hath given it to you in order that you may seek more: do not say, “He has only this amount (to give).”
زان نماید چند سیب آن باغبان ** تا بدانی نخل و دخل بوستان
The gardener shows a number of apples, to the end that you may know the trees and produce of the orchard.
کف گندم زان دهد خریار را ** تا بداند گندم انبار را
He (the wheat-merchant) gives the purchaser a handful of wheat, in order that he may know (the quality of) the wheat in the granary.
نکته‌ای زان شرح گوید اوستاد ** تا شناسی علم او را مستزاد
The teacher explains a nice point in order that you may recognise that his knowledge exceeds (those limits);
ور بگویی خود همینش بود و بس ** دورت اندازد چنانک از ریش خس 2120
And if you say, “This is all (the knowledge) he has,” he will cast you far (from him) as sticks and straws (are cast) from the beard.
ای ایاز اکنون بیا و داده ده ** داد نادر در جهان بنیاد نه
“Now come, O Ayáz, and deal justice: lay the foundation of a rare justice in the world.
مجرمانت مستحق کشتن‌اند ** وز طمع بر عفو و حلمت می‌تنند
Those who have sinned against thee deserve to be killed, but in hope (of escaping death) they are attending (waiting upon) thy pardon and forbearance,
تا که رحمت غالب آید یا غضب ** آب کوثر غالب آید یا لهب
To see whether mercy will prevail or wrath, whether the water of Kawthar will prevail or the flames (of Hell).”
از پی مردم‌ربایی هر دو هست ** شاخ حلم و خشم از عهد الست
From the (ancient) Covenant of Alast (until now) both (these) boughs, (namely) forbearance and anger, are in existence for the purpose of carrying men (up to God).
بهر این لفظ الست مستبین ** نفی و اثباتست در لفظی قرین 2125
Hence the perspicuous word Alast is (a case of) negation and affirmation joined in one word,
زانک استفهام اثباتیست این ** لیک در وی لفظ لیس شد قرین
Because this (Alast) is an affirmative question, but (nevertheless) the word laysa is buried in it.
ترک کن تا ماند این تقریر خام ** کاسه‌ی خاصان منه بر خوان عام
Leave off, and let this exposition remain incomplete: do not lay the bowl for the elect on the table of the vulgar.
قهر و لطفی چون صبا و چون وبا ** آن یکی آهن‌ربا وین که‌ربا
(’Tis) a wrath and a mercy like the zephyr (sabá) and the plague (wabá): the former is (like) the iron-attracting (magnet) and the latter (like) the straw attracting (amber).
می‌کشد حق راستان را تا رشد ** قسم باطل باطلان را می‌کشد
The truth draws the righteous to righteousness; the false class (of things) draws the false (the wicked).
معده حلوایی بود حلوا کشد ** معده صفرایی بود سرکا کشد 2130
(If) the belly be sweet, it draws sweets (to itself); (if) the belly be bilious (acid), it draws vinegar (to itself).
فرش سوزان سردی از جالس برد ** فرش افسرده حرارت را خورد
A burning (hot) carpet takes away coldness from one who sits (on it); a frozen (cold) carpet consumes (his) heat.
دوست بینی از تو رحمت می‌جهد ** خصم بینی از تو سطوت می‌جهد
(When) you see a friend, mercy is aroused in you; (when) you see an enemy, violence is aroused in you.
ای ایاز این کار را زوتر گزار ** زانک نوعی انتقامست انتظار
“O Ayáz, finish this affair quickly, for expectation is a sort of vengeance.”
تعجیل فرمودن پادشاه ایاز را کی زود این حکم را به فیصل رسان و منتظر مدار و ایام بیننا مگو کی الانتظار موت الاحمر و جواب گفتن ایاز شاه را
How the King bade Ayáz make haste, saying, “Give judgement and bring the matter to decision immediately, and do not keep them waiting or say, ‘We shall meet after some days,’ for expectation is the red death”; and how Ayáz answered the King.
گفت ای شه جملگی فرمان تراست ** با وجود آفتاب اختر فناست
He said, “O King, the command belongs entirely to thee: when the sun is there, the star is naughted.
زهره کی بود یا عطارد یا شهاب ** کو برون آید به پیش آفتاب 2135
Who is Venus or Mercury or a meteor that they should come forth in the presence of the sun?
گر ز دلق و پوستین بگذشتمی ** کی چنین تخم ملامت کشتمی
If I had omitted (to look at) the cloak and sheepskin, how should I have sown such seeds of blame?
قفل کردن بر در حجره چه بود ** در میان صد خیالیی حسود
What was the (use of) putting a lock on the door of the chamber amidst a hundred envious persons addicted to false imagination?
دست در کرده درون آب جو ** هر یکی زیشان کلوخ خشک‌جو
Every one of them, having put his hand into the river-water, seeks (to find there) a dry sod.
پس کلوخ خشک در جو کی بود ** ماهیی با آب عاصی کی شود
How, then, should there be a dry sod in the river? How should a fish become disobedient to the sea?
بر من مسکین جفا دارند ظن ** که وفا را شرم می‌آید ز من 2140
They impute iniquity to poor me, before whom loyalty (itself) is ashamed.”
گر نبودی زحمت نامحرمی ** چند حرفی از وفا واگفتمی
Were it not for the trouble caused by a person unfamiliar (with my meaning), I would have spoken a few words concerning loyalty;
چون جهانی شبهت و اشکال‌جوست ** حرف می‌رانیم ما بیرون پوست
(But) since a world (multitude of people) is seeking (to raise) doubt and difficulty, we will let the discourse run beyond the skin.
گر تو خود را بشکنی مغزی شوی ** داستان مغز نغزی بشنوی
If you break your (material) self, you will become a kernel and will hear the tale of a goodly kernel.
جوز را در پوستها آوازهاست ** مغز و روغن را خود آوازی کجاست
The voices of walnuts are in their skins (shells): where, indeed, is any voice in the kernel and the oil?
دارد آوازی نه اندر خورد گوش ** هست آوازش نهان در گوش نوش 2145
It (the kernel) has a voice, (but one that is) not suited to the (bodily) ear: its voice is hidden in the ear of ecstasy.