No act of piety can be better than this sin: years in comparison with this moment are (but) an hour.”
مدتی بد پیش این شه زین نسق ** دل کباب و جان نهاده بر طبق
In this fashion he remained with this King for a long while, his heart (roasted like) kabáb and his soul laid on the tray (of self-devotion).
گفت شه از هر کسی یک سر برید ** من ز شه هر لحظه قربانم جدید
He said, “The King beheads every one once, (but) I am sacrificed anew by the King at every instant.
من فقیرم از زر از سر محتشم ** صد هزاران سر خلف دارد سرم
I am poor in gold, but rich in heads (lives): my head (life) hath a hundred heads to take its place.
با دو پا در عشق نتوان تاختن ** با یکی سر عشق نتوان باختن
No one can run in (the path of) Love with two feet: no one can play (the game of) Love with one head;
هر کسی را خود دو پا و یک‌سرست ** با هزاران پا و سر تن نادرست 4605
Yet every one has two feet and one head: the body with thousands of feet and heads is a rarity.”
زین سبب هنگامه‌ها شد کل هدر ** هست این هنگامه هر دم گرم‌تر
On this account all (other) combats are (fought) in vain, (while) this combat (of Love) grows hotter every moment.
معدن گرمیست اندر لامکان ** هفت دوزخ از شرارش یک دخان
The source of its heat lies beyond the realm of space: the seven Hells are (but) a smoke (rising) from the sparks of its fire.
در بیان آنک دوزخ گوید کی قنطره‌ی صراط بر سر اوست ای مومن از صراط زودتر بگذر زود بشتاب تا عظمت نور تو آتش ما را نکشد جز یا مومن فان نورک اطفاء ناری
Setting forth how Hell will say, when the Bridge Sirát is (laid) over it (at the Resurrection), “O believer, pass more quickly across the Sirát! Quick, make haste, lest the greatness of thy light put out my fire,” (according to the Tradition), “Pass, O believer, for lo, thy light hath extinguished my fire.”
زآتش عاشق ازین رو ای صفی ** می‌شود دوزخ ضعیف و منطقی
For this reason, O sincere man, Hell is enfeebled and extinguished by the fire of Love.
گویدش بگذر سبک ای محتشم ** ورنه ز آتش‌های تو مرد آتشم
It says to him (the believer), “Pass speedily, O respected one, or else my fire will be destroyed by thy flames.”
کفر که کبریت دوزخ اوست و بس ** بین که می‌پخساند او را این نفس 4610
Behold how this breath (of Love) dissolves infidelity, which alone is the brimstone of Hell!
زود کبریت بدین سودا سپار ** تا نه دوزخ بر تو تازد نه شرار
Quickly entrust thy brimstone to this passion (of Love), in order that neither Hell nor (even) its sparks may assail thee.
گویدش جنت گذر کن هم‌چو باد ** ورنه گردد هر چه من دارم کساد
Paradise (too) says to him, “Pass like the wind, or else all that I possess will become unsalable;
که تو صاحب‌خرمنی من خوشه‌چین ** من بتی‌ام تو ولایت‌های چین
For thou art the owner of the (whole) stack, (while) I am (but) a gleaner: I am (but) an idol, (while) thou art (all) the provinces of China.”
هست لرزان زو جحیم و هم جنان ** نه مر این را نه مر آن را زو امان
Both Hell and Paradise are trembling in fear of him (the believer): neither the one nor the other feels safe from him.
رفت عمرش چاره را فرصت نیافت ** صبر بس سوزان بدت وجان بر نتافت 4615
His (the prince's) life sped away and he found no opportunity to cure (his passion): the waiting consumed him exceedingly and his soul could not endure it.
مدتی دندان‌کنان این می‌کشید ** نارسیده عمر او آخر رسید
For a long time, gnashing his teeth, he suffered this (agony): ere he attained, his life reached its end.
صورت معشوق زو شد در نهفت ** رفت و شد با معنی معشوق جفت
The form (appearance) of the Beloved vanished from him: he died and was united with the reality of the Beloved.
گفت لبسش گر ز شعر و ششترست ** اعتناق بی‌حجابش خوشترست
He said (to himself), “Though his raiment was of silk and Shushtar cloth, his unscreened embrace is sweeter.
من شدم عریان ز تن او از خیال ** می‌خرامم در نهایات الوصال
(Now) I am denuded of my body, and he of (the veil of) phantasy: I am advancing triumphantly in the consummation of union.”
این مباحث تا بدین‌جا گفتنیست ** هرچه آید زین سپس بنهفتنیست 4620
These topics may be discussed up to this point, (but) all that comes after this must be kept hid;
ور بگویی ور بکوشی صد هزار ** هست بیگار و نگردد آشکار
And if you would tell it and make a hundred thousand efforts, ’tis fruitless labour, for it will never become clear.
تا به دریا سیر اسپ و زین بود ** بعد ازینت مرکب چوبین بود
As far as the sea, ’tis a journey on horseback: after this you (must) have a wooden horse.
مرکب چوبین به خشکی ابترست ** خاص آن دریاییان را رهبرست
The wooden horse is no good on the dry land: it carries exclusively those who voyage on the sea.
این خموشی مرکب چوبین بود ** بحریان را خامشی تلقین بود
The wooden horse is this (mystical) silence: (this) silence gives instruction to the sea-folk.
هر خموشی که ملولت می‌کند ** نعره‌های عشق آن سو می‌زند 4625
Every (such) silent one who wearies you is (really) uttering shrieks of love Yonder.
تو همی‌گویی عجب خامش چراست ** او همی‌گوید عجب گوشش کجاست
You say, “I wonder why he is silent”; he says (to himself), “How strange! Where is his ear?
من ز نعره کر شدم او بی‌خبر ** تیزگوشان زین سمر هستند کر
I am deafened by the shrieks, (yet) he is unaware (of them).” The (apparently) sharp-eared are (in fact) deaf to this (mystical) converse.
آن یکی در خواب نعره می‌زند ** صد هزاران بحث و تلقین می‌کند
(For example), some one cries aloud in his dream and gives a hundred thousand discussions and communications,
این نشسته پهلوی او بی‌خبر ** خفته خود آنست و کر زان شور و شر
(While) this (other), sitting beside him, is unaware (of it): ’tis really he who is asleep and deaf to (all) that turmoil and tumult.
وان کسی کش مرکب چوبین شکست ** غرقه شد در آب او خود ماهیست 4630
And he whose wooden horse is shattered and sunk in the water (of the sea), he in sooth is the fish.
نه خموشست و نه گویا نادریست ** حال او را در عبارت نام نیست
He is neither silent nor speaking: he is a marvel: there is no name to describe his state.
نیست زین دو هر دو هست آن بوالعجب ** شرح این گفتن برونست از ادب
He does not belong to these two (categories), (and yet) that prodigy is (really) both: to explain this would transgress the limits of due reverence.
این مثال آمد رکیک و بی‌ورود ** لیک در محسوس ازین بهتر نبود
This comparison is poor and unsuccessful, but in the sensible (world) there was none better than this (to be found).
متوفی شدن بزرگین از شه‌زادگان و آمدن برادر میانین به جنازه‌ی برادر کی آن کوچکین صاحب‌فراش بود از رنجوری و نواختن پادشاه میانین را تا او هم لنگ احسان شد ماند پیش پادشاه صد هزار از غنایم غیبی و غنی بدو رسید از دولت و نظر آن شاه مع تقریر بعضه
The death of the eldest prince, and how the middle brother came to his funeral—for the youngest was confined to his bed by illness; and how the King treated the middle brother with great affection, so that he too was crippled (captivated) by his kindness; (and how) he remained with the King, and a hundred thousand spoils (precious gifts), from the unseen and visible worlds, were conferred upon him by the fortune and favour of the King; with an exposition of some part thereof.
کوچکین رنجور بود و آن وسط ** بر جنازه‌ی آن بزرگ آمد فقط
The youngest (brother) was ill, and (so) the middle one came alone to the funeral of the eldest.
شاه دیدش گفت قاصد کین کیست ** که از آن بحرست و این هم ماهیست 4635
(When) the King espied him, he said with a purpose, “Who is this?—for he is of that sea, and he too is a fish.”
پس معرف گفت پور آن پدر ** این برادر زان برادر خردتر
Then the announcer said, “He is a son of the same father: this brother is younger than that (deceased) brother.”
شه نوازیدش که هستی یادگار ** کرد او را هم بدان پرسش شکار
The King greeted him affectionately, saying, “Thou art a keepsake (from thy brother to me)”; and by this enquiry (gracious attention) made him too his prey.
از نواز شاه آن زار حنیذ ** در تن خود غیر جان جانی بدیذ
In consequence of the kindness shown (to him) by the King, that wretched man, (who was) roasted (in the fire of love), found in his body a soul other than the (animal) soul.
در دل خود دید عالی غلغله ** که نیابد صوفی آن در صد چله
He felt within his heart a sublime emotion which the Súfí does not experience during a hundred chilas.
عرصه و دیوار و کوه سنگ‌بافت ** پیش او چون نار خندان می‌شکافت 4640
Court-yard and wall and mountain woven of stone seemed to split open before him like a laughing (bursting) pomegranate.
ذره ذره پیش او هم‌چون قباب ** دم به دم می‌کرد صدگون فتح باب
One by one, the atoms (of the universe) were momently opening their doors to him, like tents, in a hundred diverse ways.
باب گه روزن شدی گاه شعاع ** خاک گه گندم شدی و گاه صاع
The door would become now the window, now the sunbeams; the earth would become now the wheat, now the bushel.
در نظرها چرخ بس کهنه و قدید ** پیش چشمش هر دمی خلق جدید
In (men's) eyes the heavens are very old and threadbare; in his eye ’twasa new creation at every moment.
روح زیبا چونک وا رست از جسد ** از قضا بی شک چنین چشمش رسد
When the beauteous spirit is delivered from the body, no doubt an eye like this will be conferred upon it by (Divine) destiny.
صد هزاران غیب پیشش شد پدید ** آنچ چشم محرمان بیند بدید 4645
A hundred thousand mysteries were revealed to him: he beheld that which the eyes of the initiated behold.
آنچ او اندر کتب بر خوانده بود ** چشم را در صورت آن بر گشود
He opened (the inward) eye (and gazed) on the (ideal) form of that which he had (only) read in books.
از غبار مرکب آن شاه نر ** یافت او کحل عزیزی در بصر
From the dust of the mighty King's horse he obtained a precious collyrium for his eyesight.
برچنین گلزار دامن می‌کشید ** جزو جزوش نعره زن هل من مزید
In such a garden of flowers he was trailing his skirt, while every part of him was crying, “Is there any more?”