در هوای غیب مرغی می‌پرد ** سایه‌ی او بر زمینی می‌زند
A bird is flying in the atmosphere of the Unseen: its shadow falls on a piece of earth.
جسم سایه‌ی سایه‌ی سایه‌ی دلست ** جسم کی اندر خور پایه‌ی دلست
The body is the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the heart: how is the body worthy of the (lofty) rank of the heart?
مرد خفته روح او چون آفتاب ** در فلک تابان و تن در جامه خواب
A man lies asleep: his spirit is shining in Heaven, like the sun, while his body is in bed.
جان نهان اندر خلا هم‌چون سجاف ** تن تقلب می‌کند زیر لحاف
His spirit is hidden in the Void, like the fringe (sewn inside a garment): his body is turning to and fro beneath the coverlet.
روح چون من امر ربی مختفیست ** هر مثالی که بگویم منتفیست 3310
Since the spirit, being from the command of my Lord, is invisible, every similitude that I may utter (concerning it) is denying (the truth of the description).
ای عجب کو لعل شکربار تو ** وان جوابات خوش و اسرار تو
Oh, where, I wonder, is thy sugar-shedding ruby (lip) and those sweet replies and mysteries of thine?
ای عجب کو آن عقیق قندخا ** آن کلید قفل مشکل‌های ما
Oh, where, I wonder, is that candy-chewing cornelian (lip), the key to the lock of our perplexities?
ای عجب کو آن دم چون ذوالفقار ** آنک کردی عقل‌ها را بی‌قرار
Oh, where, I wonder, is that breath (keen) as Dhu ’l-faqár, that used to make our understandings distraught?
چند هم‌چون فاخته کاشانه‌جو ** کو و کو و کو و کو و کو و کو
How long, like a ringdove seeking her nest, (shall I cry) ‘where (kú) and where and where and where and where and where?’
کو همان‌جا که صفات رحمتست ** قدرتست و نزهتست و فطنتست 3315
Where (is he now)? In the place where are the Attributes of (Divine) Mercy, and (the Divine) Power and Transcendence, and (celestial) Intelligence.
کو همان‌جا که دل و اندیشه‌اش ** دایم آن‌جا بد چو شیر و بیشه‌اش
Where (is he now)? In the same place where his heart and thought always dwelt, like the lion in his jungle.
کو همان‌جا که امید مرد و زن ** می‌رود در وقت اندوه و حزن
Where (is he now)? In that place whither the hope of (every) man and woman turns in the hour of anguish and sorrow.
کو همان‌جا که به وقت علتی ** چشم پرد بر امید صحتی
Where (is he now)? In the place to which in time of illness the eye takes wing in hope of (regaining) health—
آن طرف که بهر دفع زشتیی ** باد جویی بهر کشت و کشتیی
In that quarter where, in order to avert a calamity, you seek wind for (winnowing) the corn or (speeding) a ship (on its way);
آن طرف که دل اشارت می‌کند ** چون زبان یا هو عبارت می‌کند 3320
In that quarter which is signified by the heart when the tongue utters the expression ‘Yá Hú.’
او مع‌الله است بی کو کو همی ** کاش جولاهانه ماکو گفتمی
He is always with God (and) beyond ‘where? where?’ (kú, kú). Would that like weavers I might have said má kú!
عقل ما کو تا ببیند غرب و شرق ** روح‌ها را می‌زند صد گونه برق
Where is our reason, that it should (be able to) perceive the spiritual West and East (the universal Divine epiphany) flashing forth a hundred kinds of splendour?
جزر و مدش بد به بحری در زبد ** منتهی شد جزر و باقی ماند مد
His (the Khwája's) ebb and flow was caused by a (great) foaming Sea: (now) the ebb has ceased and (only) the flow remains.
نه هزارم وام و من بی دست‌رس ** هست صد دینار ازین توزیع و بس
I am nine thousand (dinars) in debt and have no resources: there are (only) a hundred dinars, (resulting) from this subscription.
حق کشیدت ماندم در کش‌مکش ** می‌روم نومید ای خاک تو خوش 3325
God hath withdrawn thee (from this world) and I am left in agony: I am going (hence) in despair, O thou whose dust is sweet!
همتی می‌دار در پر حسرتت ** ای همایون روی و دست و همتت
Keep in thy mind a prayer for thy grief-stricken (mourner), O thou whose face and hands and prayers are auspicious.
آمدم بر چشمه و اصل عیون ** یافتم در وی به جای آب خون
I come to the spring and the source of (all) fountains: I find in it instead of water blood.
چرخ آن چرخست آن مهتاب نیست ** جوی آن جویست آب آن آب نیست
The sky is the same sky, (but) ’tis not the same moonlight: the river is the same river, (but) the water is not the same water.
محسنان هستند کو آن مستطاب ** اختران هستند کو آن آفتاب
There are benefactors, (but) where is that one who was found (by all) to be (supremely) good? There are stars, (but) where is that sun?
تو شدی سوی خدا ای محترم ** پس به سوی حق روم من نیز هم 3330
Thou hast gone unto God, O venerated man: I too, therefore, will go unto God.”
مجمع و پای علم ماوی القرون ** هست حق کل لدینا محضرون
God is the assembly-place where the generations (of mankind) are mustered under His banner: all are brought before Us.
نقش‌ها گر بی‌خبر گر با خبر ** در کف نقاش باشد محتصر
The pictures (phenomenal forms), whether unconscious or conscious (of it), are (always) present in the hand of the Painter.
دم به دم در صفحه‌ی اندیشه‌شان ** ثبت و محوی می‌کند آن بی‌نشان
Moment by moment that traceless One is setting down (what He will) on the page of their thought and (then) obliterating it.
خشم می‌آرد رضا را می‌برد ** بخل می‌آرد سخا را می‌برد
He is putting anger (there) and taking acquiescence away: He is putting stinginess (there) and taking generosity away.
نیم لحظه مدرکاتم شام و غدو ** هیچ خالی نیست زین اثبات و محو 3335
Never for (even) half a wink at eve or morn are my ideas exempt from this (process of) imprinting (on the mind) and obliterating.
کوزه‌گر با کوزه باشد کارساز ** کوزه از خود کی شود پهن و دراز
The potter works at the pot to fashion it: how should the pot become broad and long of itself?
چوب در دست دروگر معتکف ** ورنه چون گردد بریده و متلف
The wood is kept constantly in the carpenter's hand: else how should it be hewn and put into right shape?
جامه اندر دست خیاطی بود ** ورنه از خود چون بدوزد یا درد
The garment (while being made) is in the hands of a tailor: else how should it sew and cut of itself?
مشک با سقا بود ای منتهی ** ورنه از خود چون شود پر یا تهی
The water-skin is with the water-carrier, O adept: else how should it become full or empty by itself?
هر دمی پر می‌شوی تی می‌شوی ** پس بدانک در کف صنع ویی 3340
You are being filled and emptied at every moment: know, then, that you are in the hand of His working.
چشم‌بند از چشم روزی کی رود ** صنع از صانع چه سان شیدا شود
On the Day when the eye-bandage falls from the eye, how madly will the work be enamoured of the Worker!
چشم‌داری تو به چشم خود نگر ** منگر از چشم سفیهی بی‌خبر
(If) you have an eye, look with your own eye: do not look through the eye of an ignorant fool.
گوش داری تو به گوش خود شنو ** گوش گولان را چرا باشی گرو
(If) you have an ear, hearken with your own ear: why be dependent on the ears of blockheads?
بی ز تقلیدی نظر را پیشه کن ** هم برای عقل خود اندیشه کن
Make a practice of seeing (for yourself) without blindly following any authority: think in accordance with the view of your own reason.
دیدن خوارزمشاه رحمه الله در سیران در موکب خود اسپی بس نادر و تعلق دل شاه به حسن و چستی آن اسپ و سرد کردن عمادالملک آن اسپ را در دل شاه و گزیدن شاه گفت او را بر دید خویش چنانک حکیم رحمةالله علیه در الهی‌نامه فرمود چون زبان حسد شود نخاس یوسفی یابی از گزی کرباس از دلالی برادران یوسف حسودانه در دل مشتریان آن چندان حسن پوشیده شد و زشت نمودن گرفت کی و کانوا فیه من الزاهدین
How the Khwárizmsháh, may God have mercy upon him, while riding for pleasure, saw an exceedingly fine horse in his cavalcade; and how the king's heart fell in love with the beauty and elegance of the horse; and how the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk caused the horse to appear undesirable to the king; and how the king preferred his (the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk's) word to his own sight, as the Hakím (Saná’í), may God have mercy upon him, has said in the Iláhí-náma: “When the tongue of envy turns slave-dealer (salesman), you may get a Joseph for an ell of linen.” Owing to the envious feelings of Joseph's brethren when they acted as brokers (in selling him), (even) such a great beauty (as his) was veiled from the heart (perception) of the buyers and he began to seem ugly (to them), for “they (his brethren) were setting little value on him.”
بود امیری را یکی اسپی گزین ** در گله‌ی سلطان نبودش یک قرین 3345
A certain Amír had a fine horse: there was no equal to it in the Sultan's troop.
او سواره گشت در موکب به گاه ** ناگهان دید اسپ را خوارزمشاه
Early (one morning) he rode out in the royal cavalcade: suddenly the Khwárizmsháh observed the horse.
چشم شه را فر و رنگ او ربود ** تا به رجعت چشم شه با اسپ بود
Its beauty and colour enraptured the king's eye: till his return (home) the king's eye was following the horse.
بر هر آن عضوش که افکندی نظر ** هر یکش خوشتر نمودی زان دگر
On whichever limb he let his gaze fall, each seemed to him more pleasing than the other.
غیر چستی و گشی و روحنت ** حق برو افکنده بد نادر صفت
Besides elegance and beauty and spiritedness, God had bestowed on it (other) exquisite qualities.
پس تجسس کرد عقل پادشاه ** کین چه باشد که زند بر عقل راه 3350
Then the king's mind sought to discover what it could be that waylaid (and overpowered) his reason,
چشم من پرست و سیرست و غنی ** از دو صد خورشید دارد روشنی
Saying, “My eye is full and satisfied and wanting naught: it is illumined by two hundred suns.
ای رخ شاهان بر من بیذقی ** نیم اسپم در رباید بی حقی
Oh, the rook of (other) kings is (but) a pawn in my sight, (and yet) a demi-horse enraptures me without any justification.
جادوی کردست جادو آفرین ** جذبه باشد آن نه خاصیات این
The Creator of witchery has bewitched me: ’tis a (Divine) attraction (exerted upon me), not the peculiar virtues of this (horse).”
فاتحه خواند و بسی لا حول کرد ** فاتحه‌ش در سینه می‌افزود درد
He recited the Fátiha and uttered many a lá hawl, (but) the Fátiha (only) increased the passion in his breast,
زانک او را فاتحه خود می‌کشید ** فاتحه در جر و دفع آمد وحید 3355
Because the Fátiha itself was drawing him on: the Fátiha is unique in drawing on (good) and averting (evil).