حرص صیادی ز صیدی مغفلست ** دلبریی می‌کند او بی‌دلست
The greed of hunting makes (one) oblivious of being a prey: he (the hunter) tries to win hearts (though) he has lost his own.
تو کم از مرغی مباش اندر نشید ** بین ایدی خلف عصفوری بدید
Be not thou inferior to a bird in (thy) seeking: (even) a sparrow sees (what is) before and behind.
چون به نزد دانه آید پیش و پس ** چند گرداند سر و رو آن نفس
When it approaches the grain (bait), at that moment it turns its head and face several times to front and rear,
کای عجب پیش و پسم صیاد هست ** تا کشم از بیم او زین لقمه دست 755
(As though to say), ‘Oh, I wonder whether there is a fowler in front of me or behind, so that for fear of him I should abstain from this food.’
تو ببین پس قصه‌ی فجار را ** پیش بنگر مرگ یار و جار را
Do thou see behind (thee) the story of (what happened to) the wicked; see before (thee) the death of (many a) friend and neighbour,
که هلاکت دادشان بی‌آلتی ** او قرین تست در هر حالتی
Whom He (God) destroyed without (using) any instrument: He is close to thee in every circumstance.
حق شکنجه کرد و گرز و دست نیست ** پس بدان بی‌دست حق داورکنیست
God inflicted torment (on them), and there is no mace or hand (employed): know, then, that God is one who deals justice (inflicts chastisement) without hands.
آنک می‌گفتی اگر حق هست کو ** در شکنجه او مقر می‌شد که هو
He who was saying, ‘If God exists, where is He?’ was confessing on the rack (of pain) that ’tis He (God).
آنک می‌گفت این بعیدست و عجیب ** اشک می‌راند و همی گفت ای قریب 760
He who was saying, ‘This is far-fetched and marvellous’ was shedding tears and crying, ‘O Thou who art nigh!’
چون فرار از دام واجب دیده است ** دام تو خود بر پرت چفسیده است
Since he has deemed it necessary to flee from the trap, (’tis strange that) the trap for thee is in fact stuck fast to thy (gaudy) feathers.
بر کنم من میخ این منحوس دام ** از پی کامی نباشم طلخ‌کام
I will tear out the pin of this ill-fated trap: I will not suffer bitter grief for the sake of (indulging) a desire.
درخور عقل تو گفتم این جواب ** فهم کن وز جست و جو رو بر متاب
I have given thee this answer (which is) suitable to thy understanding: apprehend (its meaning) and do not avert thy face from seeking.
بسکل این حبلی که حرص است و حسد ** یاد کن فی جیدها حبل مسد
Snap this cord, which is greed and envy: remember (the text) on her neck a cord of palm-fibres.”
صفت کشتن خلیل علیه‌السلام زاغ را کی آن اشارت به قمع کدام صفت بود از صفات مذمومه‌ی مهلکه در مرید
The reason why Khalíl (Abraham), on whom be peace, killed the crow, indicating (thereby) the subjugation of certain blameworthy and pernicious qualities in the disciple.
این سخن را نیست پایان و فراغ ** ای خلیل حق چرا کشتی تو زاغ 765
There is no end and completion to this discourse. O Friend of God, why didst thou kill the crow?
بهر فرمان حکمت فرمان چه بود ** اندکی ز اسرار آن باید نمود
Because of the (Divine) command. What was the wisdom of the (Divine) command? A small part of the mysteries thereof must (now) be shown.
کاغ کاغ و نعره‌ی زاغ سیاه ** دایما باشد به دنیا عمرخواه
The cawing and noisy cry of the black crow is ever asking for (long) life in this world.
هم‌چو ابلیس از خدای پاک فرد ** تا قیامت عمر تن درخواست کرد
Like Iblís, it (the crow) besought the holy and incomparable God for bodily life till the Resurrection.
Were it not that that foul-mouthed one is a dung-eater, he would say, “Deliver me from the nature of the crow!”
مناجات
Prayer.
ای مبدل کرده خاکی را به زر ** خاک دیگر را بکرده بوالبشر 780
O Thou who hast transmuted one clod of earth into gold, and another clod into the Father of mankind,
کار تو تبدیل اعیان و عطا ** کار من سهوست و نسیان و خطا
Thy work is the transmutation of essences and (the showing of) munificence; my work is mistake and forgetfulness and error.
سهو و نسیان را مبدل کن به علم ** من همه خلمم مرا کن صبر و حلم
Transmute mistake and forgetfulness into knowledge: I am all choler, make me patience and forbearance.
ای که خاک شوره را تو نان کنی ** وی که نان مرده را تو جان کنی
O Thou who makest nitrous earth to be bread, and O Thou who makest dead bread to be life,
ای که جان خیره را رهبر کنی ** وی که بی‌ره را تو پیغمبر کنی
O Thou who makest the distracted soul to be a Guide, and O Thou who makest the wayless wanderer to be a Prophet,
می‌کنی جزو زمین را آسمان ** می‌فزایی در زمین از اختران 785
Thou makest a piece of earth to be heaven, Thou givest increase in the earth from the stars.
هر که سازد زین جهان آب حیات ** زوترش از دیگران آید ممات
Whosoever makes the Water of Life to consist of (the pleasures of) this world, death comes to him sooner than to the others.
دیده‌ی دل کو به گردون بنگریست ** دید که اینجا هر دمی میناگریست
The eye of the heart (the inward eye) that contemplated the (spiritual) firmament perceived that here (in the sensible world) is a continual alchemy.
قلب اعیانست و اکسیری محیط ** ایتلاف خرقه‌ی تن بی‌مخیط
The harmonious cohesion of the patched garment, (which is) the body, without being stitched (together), is (owing to) the transmutation of essences and (to) an all-embracing elixir.
تو از آن روزی که در هست آمدی ** آتشی یا بادی یا خاکی بدی
From the day when thou camest into existence, thou wert fire or air or earth.
گر بر آن حالت ترا بودی بقا ** کی رسیدی مر ترا این ارتقا 790
If thou hadst remained in that condition, how should this (present) height have been reached by thee?
از مبدل هستی اول نماند ** هستی بهتر به جای آن نشاند
The Transmuter did not leave thee in thy first (state of) existence: He established a better (state of) existence in the place of that (former one);
هم‌چنین تا صد هزاران هستها ** بعد یکدیگر دوم به ز ابتدا
And so on till (He gave thee) a hundred thousand states of existence, one after the other, the second (always) better than the beginning.
از مبدل بین وسایط را بمان ** کز وسایط دور گردی ز اصل آن
Regard (all change as derived) from the Transmuter, leave (ignore) the intermediaries, for by (regarding) the intermediaries thou wilt be come far from their Origin.
واسطه هر جا فزون شد وصل جست ** واسطه کم ذوق وصل افزونترست
Wherever the intermediaries increase, union (with the Origin) is removed: (in proportion as) the intermediaries are less, the delight of (attaining to) union is greater.
از سبب‌دانی شود کم حیرتت ** حیرت تو ره دهد در حضرتت 795
By knowing the intermediaries thy bewilderment (in God) is diminished: thy bewilderment gives thee admission to the (Divine) Presence.
این بقاها از فناها یافتی ** از فنااش رو چرا برتافتی
Thou hast gained these (successive) lives from (successive) deaths: why hast thou averted thy face from dying in Him?
زان فناها چه زیان بودت که تا ** بر بقا چفسیده‌ای ای نافقا
What loss was thine (what loss didst thou suffer) from those deaths, that thou hast clung (so tenaciously) to (this earthly) life, O rat?
چون دوم از اولینت بهترست ** پس فنا جو و مبدل را پرست
Since thy second (life) is better than thy first, therefore seek to die (to the world), and worship the Transmuter.
صد هزاران حشر دیدی ای عنود ** تاکنون هر لحظه از بدو وجود
O contumacious man, thou hast experienced a hundred thousand resurrections at every moment from the beginning of thy existence until now:
از جماد بی‌خبر سوی نما ** وز نما سوی حیات و ابتلا 800
From inanimateness (thou didst move) unconsciously towards (vegetal) growth, and from (vegetal) growth towards (animal) life and tribulation;
باز سوی عقل و تمییزات خوش ** باز سوی خارج این پنج و شش
Again, towards reason and goodly discernments; again, towards (what lies) outside of these five (senses) and six (directions).