Their cry is coming (to you) from those delightful bowers— “O thou who hast forgotten us, hark, come with all speed!”
منتظر در غیب جان مرد و زن ** مول مولت چیست زوتر گام زن 3900
The soul (spiritual result) of (every) man and woman is waiting (for them) in the Unseen: why are you delaying? Step forward at once (on the way).
راه گم کرد او از آن صبح دروغ ** چون مگس افتاد اندر دیگ دوغ
He (the captain) lost his way and, (beguiled) by that false dawn, fell like a gnat into the pot of buttermilk.
پشیمان شدن آن سرلشکر از آن خیانت کی کرد و سوگند دادن او آن کنیزک را کی به خلیفه باز نگوید از آنچ رفت
How that military chief repented of the sin which he had committed and adjured the girl not to tell the Caliph anything of what had happened.
چند روزی هم بر آن بد بعد از آن ** شد پشیمان او از آن جرم گران
He was absorbed in that (love-affair) for a while, (but) afterwards he repented of that grievous crime,
داد سوگندش کای خورشیدرو ** با خلیفه زینچ شد رمزی مگو
And adjured her, saying, “O thou whose face is like the sun, do not give the Caliph any hint of what has passed.”
چون ندید او را خلیفه مست گشت ** پس ز بام افتاد او را نیز طشت
When the Caliph saw her he became distraught (with love), and then too his secret was exposed to all.
دید صد چندان که وصفش کرده بود ** کی بود خود دیده مانند شنود 3905
He saw (her to be) a hundred times as beautiful as he (the informer) had described her: how in sooth should seeing be like hearing?
وصف تصویرست بهر چشم هوش ** صورت آن چشم دان نه زان گوش
Description is a picture (drawn) for the eye of intelligence: know that the (sensible) form belongs to the eye, not to the ear.
کرد مردی از سخن‌دانی سال ** حق و باطل چیست ای نیکو مقال
A certain man asked an eloquent person, “What are truth and falsehood, O man of goodly discourse?”
گوش را بگرفت و گفت این باطلست ** چشم حقست و یقینش حاصلست
He took hold of his ear and said, “This is false: the eye is true and possesses certainty.”
آن به نسبت باطل آمد پیش این ** نسبتست اغلب سخنها ای امین
The former is relatively false as compared with the latter: most sayings are relative, O trusty one.
ز آفتاب ار کرد خفاش احتجاب ** نیست محجوب از خیال آفتاب 3910
If the bat screens itself from the sun, (yet) it is not screened from the fancy (idea) of the sun.
خوف او را خود خیالش می‌دهد ** آن خیالش سوی ظلمت می‌کشد
Even the fancy (idea) of it (the sun) puts fear into it (the bat): that fancy leads it towards the darkness.
آن خیال نور می‌ترساندش ** بر شب ظلمات می‌چفساندش
That fancy (idea) of the light terrifies it and causes it to become attached to the night of gloom.
از خیال دشمن و تصویر اوست ** که تو بر چفسیده‌ای بر یار و دوست
’Tis from the fancy (idea) and the picture (thou hast formed) of thy enemy that thou hast become attached to thy comrade and friend.
موسیا کشفت لمع بر که فراشت ** آن مخیل تاب تحقیقت نداشت
O Moses, the revelation given to thee illumined the mountain, (but) the fancy conceiving (mountain) could not endure thy real experience (of the revelation).
هین مشو غره بدانک قابلی ** مر خیالش را و زین ره واصلی 3915
Hark, be not deluded by (the belief) that thou art able to conceive the fancy (idea) thereof and by this means canst attain (to the reality).
از خیال حرب نهراسید کس ** لا شجاعه قبل حرب این دان و بس
No one was ever terrified by the (mere) fancy (idea) of war: there is no bravery before (actual) war. Know this, and ’tis enough.
بر خیال حرب خیز اندر فکر ** می‌کند چون رستمان صد کر و فر
(Possessed) with the fancy (idea) of war, the poltroon makes, in his thoughts, a hundred heroic attacks (on the enemy).
نقش رستم که آن به حمامی بود ** قرن حمله فکر هر خامی بود
The antagonist (conceived) in the mind of every raw (weakling) is the picture of Rustam that may be (found) in a bath-house.
این خیال سمع چون مبصر شود ** حیز چه بود رستمی مضطر شود
When this fancy (idea) derived from hearing becomes (actually) visible, what of the poltroon? (Even) a Rustam (hero) is compelled (to submit).
جهد کن کز گوش در چشمت رود ** آنچ که آن باطل بدست آن حق شود 3920
Endeavour that it (the fancy) may pass from thine ear into thine eye, and that what has (hitherto) been unreal may become real.
زان سپس گوشت شود هم طبع چشم ** گوهری گردد دو گوش هم‌چو یشم
After that, thine ear will become connatural with thine eye: the two ears, (gross) as wool, will become of pure substance (and subtle);
بلک جمله تن چو آیینه شود ** جمله چشم و گوهر سینه شود
Nay, thy whole body will become like a mirror: it will become all eye and pure spiritual substance.
گوش انگیزد خیال و آن خیال ** هست دلاله‌ی وصال آن جمال
The ear rouses a fancy, and that fancy is the go-between (that leads) to union with that Beauty.
جهد کن تا این خیال افزون شود ** تا دلاله رهبر مجنون شود
Endeavour that this fancy may increase, so that the go-between may become a guide for Majnún.
آن خلیفه گول هم یک چند نیز ** ریش گاوی کرد خوش با آن کنیز 3925
That foolish Caliph, too, was mightily infatuated for awhile with that girl.
ملک را تو ملک غرب و شرق گیر ** چون نمی‌ماند تو آن را برق گیر
Suppose the (monarch's) empire is the empire of the West and the East: since it will not remain, deem it to be (as fleeting as) a lightning-flash.
مملکت کان می‌نماند جاودان ** ای دلت خفته تو آن را خواب دان
O thou whose heart is slumbering (heedless), know that the kingdom that does not remain unto everlasting is (but) a dream.
تا چه خواهی کرد آن باد و بروت ** که بگیرد هم‌چو جلادی گلوت
Consider what thou wilt do with (all) that vanity and vainglory; for (ultimately) it will grip thy throat like an executioner.
هم درین عالم بدان که مامنیست ** از منافق کم شنو کو گفت نیست
Know that even in this world there is a safe refuge: do not listen to the hypocrite who says there is none.
حجت منکران آخرت و بیان ضعف آن حجت زیرا حجت ایشان به دین باز می‌گردد کی غیر این نمی‌بینیم
The argument of those who disbelieve in the after-life, and a demonstration of the weakness of that argument, since their argument amounts to “We do not see any other (world) than this.”
حجتش اینست گوید هر دمی ** گر بدی چیزی دگر هم دیدمی 3930
This is his (the hypocrite's) argument: he says at every moment, “If there were anything else, I should have seen it.”
گر نبیند کودکی احوال عقل ** عاقلی هرگز کند از عقل نقل
If a child does not see the various aspects of reason, will a rational person ever abandon reason?
ور نبیند عاقلی احوال عشق ** کم نگردد ماه نیکوفال عشق
And if a rational person does not see the various aspects of Love, (yet) the auspicious moon of Love does not wane.
حسن یوسف دیده‌ی اخوان ندید ** از دل یعقوب کی شد ناپدید
Joseph's beauty was not seen by the eyes of his brethren, (but) when did it (ever) disappear from the heart of Jacob?
مر عصا را چشم موسی چوب دید ** چشم غیبی افعی و آشوب دید
The (physical) eye of Moses regarded the staff (rod) as wood; the eye of the Invisible beheld (in it) a serpent and (cause of) panic.
چشم سر با چشم سر در جنگ بود ** غالب آمد چشم سر حجت نمود 3935
The eye of the head was in conflict with the eye of the heart: the eye of the heart prevailed (over the other) and displayed the proof.
چشم موسی دست خود را دست دید ** پیش چشم غیب نوری بد پدید
The (physical) eye of Moses regarded his hand as a hand, (but) to the eye of the Invisible it was a manifest light.
این سخن پایان ندارد در کمال ** پیش هر محروم باشد چون خیال
This matter hath no limit in perfection, (yet) it seems like a fancy to every one that is deprived (of the reality).
چون حقیقت پیش او فرج و گلوست ** کم بیان کن پیش او اسرار دوست
Since to him the reality is the pudendum and the gullet, do not expound the mysteries of the Beloved to him.
پیش ما فرج و گلو باشد خیال ** لاجرم هر دم نماید جان جمال
To us the pudendum and the gullet are a (mere) fancy; consequently the (Beloved) Soul displays His beauty (to us) at every moment. [To us the private parts and the gullet are a (mere) fancy; consequently the (Beloved) Soul displays His beauty (to us) at every moment.]
هر که را فرج و گلو آیین و خوست ** آن لکم دین ولی دین بهر اوست 3940
Any one whose custom and habit is (addiction to) the pudendum and the gullet, for him (the fit answer) is “Unto you (your) religion and unto me (my) religion.”
با چنان انکار کوته کن سخن ** احمدا کم گوی با گبر کهن
Cut short thy talk with such (incarnate) scepticism: do not converse, O Ahmad, with the ancient infidel.
آمدن خلیفه نزد آن خوب‌روی برای جماع
Venit Khalífa ad puellam formosam concubitus causa. [How the Caliph came next to that one of beautiful face for the sake of (sexual) intercourse.]