انبیا هر یک همین فن می‌زنند ** خلق مفلس کدیه ایشان می‌کنند 2700
The prophets, every one, ply this same trade: the people (to whom they are sent) are (really) destitute, (yet) they (the prophets) practise beggary,
اقرضوا الله اقرضوا الله می‌زنند ** بازگون بر انصروا الله می‌تنند
Crying, “Lend to God, lend to God,” and persevering contrariously in (the exhortation) “Help God!”
در به در این شیخ می‌آرد نیاز ** بر فلک صد در برای شیخ باز
This Shaykh is going as a suppliant from door to door, (while) in Heaven a hundred doors are opened for the Shaykh,
که آن گدایی که آن به جد می‌کرد او ** بهر یزدان بود نه از بهر گلو
Because the beggary that he practised (so) diligently was for the sake of God, not for the sake of his gullet;
ور بکردی نیز از بهر گلو ** آن گلو از نور حق دارد غلو
And even if he had done it for the sake of his gullet, that gullet hath (is endowed with) exorbitance by the Light of God.
در حق او خورد نان و شهد و شیر ** به ز چله وز سه روزه‌ی صد فقیر 2705
As regards him, the eating of bread and honey and the drinking of milk is better than the forty days' seclusion and the three days' fast of a hundred dervishes.
نور می‌نوشد مگو نان می‌خورد ** لاله می‌کارد به صورت می‌چرد
He eats Light, do not say he eats bread: he sows anemones (though) in appearance he feeds (on them).
چون شراری کو خورد روغن ز شمع ** نور افزاید ز خوردش بهر جمع
Like the flame that consumes the oil (wax) in a candle, from his eating and drinking there is an increase of light for the company.
نان‌خوری را گفت حق لاتسرفوا ** نور خوردن را نگفتست اکتفوا
God hath said, “Be not immoderate,” in reference to the eating of bread; He hath not said, “Be satisfied,” in reference to the eating of Light.
آن گلوی ابتلا بد وین گلو ** فارغ از اسراف و آمن از غلو
The former was the gullet subject to probation, while this (saintly) gullet was free from immoderation and secure from exorbitance.
امر و فرمان بود نه حرص و طمع ** آن چنان جان حرص را نبود تبع 2710
(In the case of the Shaykh) ’twas (by) the (Divine) command and order, not (from) greed and cupidity: a spirit like that is not a follower of greed.
گر بگوید کیمیا مس را بده ** تو به من خود را طمع نبود فره
If the elixir say to the copper, “Give thyself up to me,” cupidity does not prevail (over it).
گنجهای خاک تا هفتم طبق ** عرضه کرده بود پیش شیخ حق
God had offered to the Shaykh (all) the treasures of the earth down to the seventh tier;
شیخ گفتا خالقا من عاشقم ** گر بجویم غیر تو من فاسقم
(But) the Shaykh said, “O Creator, I am a lover: if I seek aught but Thee, I am impious.
هشت جنت گر در آرم در نظر ** ور کنم خدمت من از خوف سقر
If I should bring into view the Eight Paradises, or if I should serve Thee from fear of Hell,
مومنی باشم سلامت‌جوی من ** زانک این هر دو بود حظ بدن 2715
(Then) I am (only) a believer seeking salvation, for both these (motives) are concerned with the body.”
عاشقی کز عشق یزدان خورد قوت ** صد بدن پیشش نیرزد تره‌توت
A hundred bodies are not worth a bean in the eyes of the lover who has received nutriment from God's love;
وین بدن که دارد آن شیخ فطن ** چیز دگر گشت کم خوانش بدن
And this body which the Shaykh of insight possesses has become something different: do not call it a body.
عاشق عشق خدا وانگاه مزد ** جبرئیل متمن وانگاه دزد
(To be) in love with God's love and then (desire) a wage! (To be) a trusted Gabriel and then a thief!
عاشق آن لیلی کور و کبود ** ملک عالم پیش او یک تره بود
In the eyes of that wretched lover of Laylá the kingdom of the world was (worthless as) a vegetable.
پیش او یکسان شده بد خاک و زر ** زر چه باشد که نبد جان را خطر 2720
Earth and gold were alike in his eyes. What of gold? (Even) his life had no value (for him).
شیر و گرگ و دد ازو واقف شده ** هم‌چو خویشان گرد او گرد آمده
Lions and wolves and wild beasts were acquainted with him and gathered round him like kinsfolk,
کین شدست از خوی حیوان پاک پاک ** پر ز عشق و لحم و شحمش زهرناک
(Knowing) that this man had become entirely purged of animality and filled with love, and that his flesh and fat were poisonous (to them).
زهر دد باشد شکرریز خرد ** زانک نیک نیک باشد ضد بد
The sweets scattered by Reason are poison to the wild beast, because the good of (that which is) good is antagonistic to (that which is) evil.
لحم عاشق را نیارد خورد دد ** عشق معروفست پیش نیک و بد
The wild beast dare not devour the flesh of the lover: Love is known both to the good and the evil;
ور خورد خود فی‌المثل دام و ددش ** گوشت عاشق زهر گردد بکشدش 2725
And if the wild beast devour him even parabolically, the lover's flesh will become poison and kill him.
هر چه جز عشقست شد ماکول عشق ** دو جهان یک دانه پیش نول عشق
Everything except love is devoured by Love: to the beak of Love the two worlds are (but) a single grain.
دانه‌ای مر مرغ را هرگز خورد ** کاهدان مر اسپ را هرگز چرد
Does a grain ever devour the bird? Does the manger ever feed on the horse?
بندگی کن تا شوی عاشق لعل ** بندگی کسبیست آید در عمل
Do service (to God), that perchance thou mayst become a lover: (devotional) service is a means of gaining (Love): it comes into action (produces an effect).
بنده آزادی طمع دارد ز جد ** عاشق آزادی نخواهد تا ابد
The servant (of God) desires to be freed from Fortune; the lover (of God) nevermore desires to be free.
بنده دایم خلعت و ادرارجوست ** خلعت عاشق همه دیدار دوست 2730
The servant is always seeking a robe of honour and a stipend; all the lover's robe of honour is his vision of the Beloved.
در نگنجد عشق در گفت و شنید ** عشق دریاییست قعرش ناپدید
Love is not contained in speech and hearing: Love is an ocean whereof the depth is invisible.
قطره‌های بحر را نتوان شمرد ** هفت دریا پیش آن بحرست خرد
The drops of the sea cannot be numbered: the Seven Seas are petty in comparison with that Ocean.
این سخن پایان ندارد ای فلان ** باز رو در قصه‌ی شیخ زمان
This discourse hath no end. Return, O reader, to the story of the Shaykh of the time.
در معنی لولاک لما خلقت الافلاک
On the meaning of “But for thee, I would not have created the heavens.”
شد چنین شیخی گدای کو به کو ** عشق آمد لاابالی اتقوا
A Shaykh like this became a beggar (going) from street to street. Love is reckless: beware!
عشق جوشد بحر را مانند دیگ ** عشق ساید کوه را مانند ریگ 2735
Love makes the sea boil like a kettle; Love crumbles the mountain like sand;
عشق‌بشکافد فلک را صد شکاف ** عشق لرزاند زمین را از گزاف
Love cleaves the sky with a hundred clefts; Love unconscionably makes the earth to tremble.
با محمد بود عشق پاک جفت ** بهر عشق او را خدا لولاک گفت
The pure Love was united with Mohammed: for Love's sake God said to him, “But for thee.”
منتهی در عشق چون او بود فرد ** پس مر او را ز انبیا تخصیص کرد
Since he alone was the ultimate goal in Love, therefore God singled him out from the (other) prophets,
گر نبودی بهر عشق پاک را ** کی وجودی دادمی افلاک را
(Saying), “Had it not been for pure Love's sake, how should I have bestowed an existence on the heavens?
من بدان افراشتم چرخ سنی ** تا علو عشق را فهمی کنی 2740
I have raised up the lofty celestial sphere, that thou mayst apprehend the sublimity of Love.
منفعتهای دیگر آید ز چرخ ** آن چو بیضه تابع آید این چو فرخ
Other benefits come from the celestial sphere: it is like the egg, (while) these (benefits) are consequential, like the chick.
خاک را من خوار کردم یک سری ** تا ز خواری عاشقان بویی بری
I have made the earth altogether lowly, that thou mayst gain some notion of the lowliness of lovers.
خاک را دادیم سبزی و نوی ** تا ز تبدیل فقیر آگه شوی
We have given greenness and freshness to the earth, that thou mayst become acquainted with the (spiritual) transmutation of the dervish.”
با تو گویند این جبال راسیات ** وصف حال عاشقان اندر ثبات
These firm-set mountains describe (represent) to thee the state of lovers in steadfastness,
گرچه آن معنیست و این نقش ای پسر ** تا به فهم تو کند نزدیک‌تر 2745
Although that (state) is a reality, while this (description) is (only) an image, O son, (which is employed) in order that he (who offers it) may bring it nearer to thy understanding.
غصه را با خار تشبیهی کنند ** آن نباشد لیک تنبیهی کنند
They liken anguish to thorns; it is not that (in reality), but they do so as a means of arousing (thy) attention.
آن دل قاسی که سنگش خواندند ** نامناسب بد مثالی راندند
When they called a hard heart “stony,” that was (really) inappropriate, (but) they made it serve as a similitude.
در تصور در نیاید عین آن ** عیب بر تصویر نه نفیش مدان
The archetype of that (object of comparison) is inconceivable: put the blame on thy conceptual faculty, and do not regard it (the archetype) as negated (nonexistent).
رفتن این شیخ در خانه‌ی امیری بهر کدیه روزی چهار بار به زنبیل به اشارت غیب و عتاب کردن امیر او را بدان وقاحت و عذر گفتن او امیر را
How the Shaykh, in obedience to the intimation from the Unseen, went with his basket four times in one day to the house of a certain Amír for the purpose of begging; and how the Amír rebuked him for his impudence, and how he excused himself to the Amír.
شیخ روزی چار کرت چون فقیر ** بهر کدیه رفت در قصر امیر
One day the Shaykh went four times to the palace of an Amír, in order to beg like a dervish,