در ضلالت هست صد کل را کله ** نفس زشت کفرناک پر سفه
In its misguidedness the foul disbelieving unconscionable carnal soul is (like) a cap for (concealing the diseased condition of) a hundred baldpates.
زین سبب می‌گویم این بنده‌ی فقیر ** سلسله از گردن سگ برمگیر
For this reason, O poor slave (of God), I am always saying, “Do not remove the collar from the neck of the cur.”
گر معلم گشت این سگ هم سگست ** باش ذلت نفسه کو بدرگست
(Even) if this cur has become a teacher, it is a cur still: be thou one whose carnal soul is abased, for it is evil-natured.
فرض می‌آری به جا گر طایفی ** بر سهیلی چون ادیم طایفی 4860
Thou wilt perform thy bounden duty if thou go round about (one like) Suhayl (Canopus, and absorb his light) as Tá’if hide (absorbs the rays),
تا سهیلت وا خرد از شر پوست ** تا شوی چون موزه‌ای هم‌پای دوست
In order that Suhayl may redeem thee from the vices of the skin (corporeality), and that thou mayst fit the foot of the Beloved like a boot.
جمله قرآن شرح خبث نفس‌هاست ** بنگر اندر مصحف آن چشمت کجاست
The entire Qur’án is a description of the viciousness of carnal souls: look into the Holy Book! Where is thine eye?
ذکر نفس عادیان کالت بیافت ** در قتال انبیا مو می‌شکافت
(’Tis) an account of the carnal soul of people like ‘Ád, which (whenever it) found weapons took the utmost pains to combat the prophets.
قرن قرن از شوم نفس بی‌ادب ** ناگهان اندر جهان می‌زد لهب
From generation to generation, the wickedness of the undisciplined carnal soul was the cause of the world being suddenly set on fire (by Divine wrath).
رجوع کردن بدان قصه کی شاه‌زاده بدان طغیان زخم خورد از خاطر شاه پیش از استکمال فضایل دیگر از دنیا برفت
Returning to the Story of the prince who was smitten by a (mortal) blow from the heart of the King and departed from this world before he was fully endowed with the other (spiritual) excellences.
قصه کوته کن که رای نفس کور ** برد او را بعد سالی سوی گور 4865
Abridge the tale: after a year (had passed) the indignation of that jealous one (the King of China) brought him (the prince) to the grave.
شاه چون از محو شد سوی وجود ** چشم مریخیش آن خون کرده بود
When the King emerged from the state of self-effacement (mahw) into consciousness, (he found that) his martial eye had wrought that bloodshed.
چون به ترکش بنگرید آن بی‌نظیر ** دید کم از ترکشش یک چوبه تیر
When the peerless (King) looked at his quiver he perceived that one arrow was missing from his quiver.
گفت کو آن تیر و از حق باز جست ** گفت که اندر حلق او کز تیر تست
He said (to himself), “Where is that arrow?” and requested God (to inform him). He (God) replied, “In his (the prince's) throat, for ’tis by thy arrow (that he has been slain).”
عفو کرد آن شاه دریادل ولی ** آمده بد تیر اه بر مقتلی
The King, whose heart was like an ocean, pardoned him; but, alas, the arrow had struck a vital spot.
کشته شد در نوحه‌ی او می‌گریست ** اوست جمله هم کشنده و هم ولیست 4870
He was slain, and the King wept in mourning for him, (for) he (the King) is all: he is both the slayer and the next of kin;
ور نباشد هر دو او پس کل نیست ** هم کشنده‌ی خلق و هم ماتم‌کنیست
For if he be not both, then he is not all; (but) he is both the slayer of people and a mourner (for them).
شکر می‌کرد آن شهید زردخد ** کان بزد بر جسم و بر معنی نزد
(Meanwhile) the pale-cheeked martyr was thanking (God) that it (the arrow) had smitten his body and had not smitten that which is real.
جسم ظاهر عاقبت خود رفتنیست ** تا ابد معنی بخواهد شاد زیست
The visible body is doomed to go at last, (but) that which is real (the pure spirit) shall live rejoicing for ever.
آن عتاب ار رفت هم بر پوست رفت ** دوست بی‌آزار سوی دوست رفت
If that punishment was inflicted, yet it fell only on the skin: the lover went unscathed to the Beloved.
گرچه او فتراک شاهنشه گرفت ** آخر از عین الکمال او ره گرفت 4875
Although he laid hold of the Emperor's saddle-strap, (yet) in the end he was (only) admitted (to union with his Beloved) by the eye whose glances kill.
و آن سوم کاهل‌ترین هر سه بود ** صورت و معنی به کلی او ربود
And the third (brother) was the laziest of the three: he won (the prize) completely—the form (appearance) as well as the reality.
وصیت کردن آن شخص کی بعد از من او برد مال مرا از سه فرزند من کی کاهل‌ترست
The injunctions given by a certain person that after he died his property should be inherited by whichever of his three sons was the laziest.
آن یکی شخص به وقت مرگ خویش ** گفت بود اندر وصیت پیش‌پیش
Long ago a certain person, in giving injunctions on his death-bed, had spoken (as follows)—
سه پسر بودش چو سه سرو روان ** وقف ایشان کرده او جان و روان
(For) he had three sons like three moving cypresses: to them he had devoted his (vital) soul and his (rational) spirit.
گفت هرچه در کفم کاله و زرست ** او برد زین هر سه کو کاهل‌ترست
He said, “Whichever of these three is the laziest, let him take all the goods and gold in my possession.”
گفت با قاضی و پس اندرز کرد ** بعد از آن جام شراب مرگ خورد 4880
He told the cadi and enjoined him strictly: after that, he drained the wine-cup of death.
گفته فرزندان به قاضی کای کریم ** نگذریم از حکم او ما سه یتیم
The sons said to the cadi, “O noble sir, we three orphans will not depart from his decision.
سمع و طاعه میکنیم او راست دست ** آنچه او فرمود بر ما نافذست // ما چو اسماعیل ز ابراهیم خود ** سر نپیچیم ارچه قربان میکند
We accept and obey: (the right of) control belongs to him: what he has commanded must be executed by us. // We are like Ishmael: we will not recoil from our Abraham though he is offering us in sacrifice."
گفت قاضی هر یکی با عاقلیش ** تا بگوید قصه‌ای از کاهلیش
The cadi said, “Let each one (of you), using his intelligence, give some account of his laziness,
تا ببینم کاهلی هر یکی ** تا بدانم حال هر یک بی‌شکی 4885
That I may perceive the laziness of each and know beyond any doubt (how stands) the case of every one (of you).”
عارفان از دو جهان کاهل‌ترند ** زانک بی شد یار خرمن می‌برند
The gnostics are the laziest folk in the two worlds, because they get their harvest without ploughing.
کاهلی را کرده‌اند ایشان سند ** کار ایشان را چو یزدان میکند
They have made laziness their prop (and rely upon it) since God is working for them.
کار یزدان را نمی‌بینند عام ** می‌نیاسایند از کد صبح و شام
The vulgar do not see God's working and (therefore) never rest from toil at morn or eve.
هین ز حد کاهلی گویید باز ** تا بدانم حد آن از کشف راز
“Come,” (said the cadi), “define (your) laziness, so that from the disclosure of the secret I may learn its (essential) definition (and nature).”
بی‌گمان که هر زبان پرده‌ی دلست ** چون بجنبد پرده سرها واصلست 4890
’Tis unquestionable that every tongue is a curtain over the heart: when the curtain is moved, the mysteries (hidden behind it) reach us.
پرده‌ی کوچک چو یک شرحه کباب ** می‌بپوشد صورت صد آفتاب
A little curtain like a slice of roast-meat conceals the forms of a hundred suns.
گر بیان نطق کاذب نیز هست ** لیک بوی از صدق و کذبش مخبرست
Even if the oral explanation is false, yet the scent (the impression produced by the speaker) makes one acquainted with his veracity or falsehood.
آن نسیمی که بیایدت از چمن ** هست پیدا از سموم گولخن
The zephyr that comes from a garden is distinct from the simoom (pestilential wind) of the ash-heap.
بوی صدق و بوی کذب گول‌گیر ** هست پیدا در نفس چون مشک و سیر
The scents of truth and fool-catching (plausible) falsehood are apparent in the breath, like musk and garlic.
گر ندانی یار را از ده‌دله ** از مشام فاسد خود کن گله 4895
If you cannot distinguish a (sincere) friend from a double-hearted person, complain of your own rotten sense of smell.
بانگ حیزان و شجاعان دلیر ** هست پیدا چون فن روباه و شیر
The voices of poltroons and brave courageous men are as distinct as the characteristics of the fox and the lion.
یا زبان هم‌چون سر دیگست راست ** چون بجنبد تو بدانی چه اباست
Or, (again), the tongue is just like the lid of a cooking-pot: when it is moved you know what sort of food is inside;
از بخار آن بداند تیزهش ** دیگ شیرینی ز سکباج ترش
(But) one whose sense (of smell) is keen can tell by the vapour (issuing from the closed pot) whether it is a pot of sweetmeat or sour sikbáj (stew flavoured with vinegar).
دست بر دیگ نوی چون زد فتی ** وقت بخریدن بدید اشکسته را
When a man taps a new pot with his hand at the time when he is buying it, he detects the cracked one (by its sound).
گفت دانم مرد را در حین ز پوز ** ور نگوید دانمش اندر سه روز 4900
He (one of the three brothers) said (to the cadi), “I know a man at once by his mouth (speech); and if he do not speak, I know him within three days.”