Take heed! Do not exult in a kingdom bestowed in turns (passing from one to another), O thou who art the bondsman of Vicissitude, do not act as though thou wert free!
هین به ملک نوبتی شادی مکن ** ای تو بسته‌‌ی نوبت آزادی مکن
(But) those for whom is prepared a kingdom beyond Vicissitude, for them the drums (of sovereignty) are beaten beyond the Seven Planets.1370
آن که ملکش برتر از نوبت تنند ** برتر از هفت انجمش نوبت زنند
Beyond Vicissitude are the kings everlasting: their spirits are circling with the Cupbearer perpetually.
برتر از نوبت ملوک باقی‌‌اند ** دور دایم روحها با ساقی‌‌اند
If thou wilt renounce this drinking (of worldly pleasures) for a day or two (for thy brief lifetime), thou wilt dip thy mouth in the drink of Paradise.
ترک این شرب ار بگویی یک دو روز ** در کنی اندر شراب خلد پوز
Commentary on (the Tradition) “We have returned from the lesser Jihád to the greater Jihád.”
تفسیر رجعنا من الجهاد الاصغر الی الجهاد الاکبر
O kings, we have slain the outward enemy, (but) there remains within (us) a worse enemy than he.
ای شهان کشتیم ما خصم برون ** ماند خصمی زو بتر در اندرون
To slay this (enemy) is not the work of reason and intelligence: the inward lion is not subdued by the hare.
کشتن این کار عقل و هوش نیست ** شیر باطن سخره‌‌ی خرگوش نیست
This carnal self (nafs) is Hell, and Hell is a dragon (the fire of) which is not diminished by oceans (of water).1375
دوزخ است این نفس و دوزخ اژدهاست ** کاو به دریاها نگردد کم و کاست
It would drink up the Seven Seas, and still the blazing of that consumer of all creatures would not become less.
هفت دریا را در آشامد هنوز ** کم نگردد سوزش آن خلق سوز
Stones and stony-hearted infidels enter it, miserable and shamefaced,
سنگها و کافران سنگ دل ** اندر آیند اندر او زار و خجل
(But) still it is not appeased by all this food, until there comes to it from God this call—
هم نگردد ساکن از چندین غذا ** تا ز حق آید مر او را این ندا