Drive the sheep, thy senses, to pasture: let them browse on (the pasture indicated in the text)—He who hath brought forth the herbage,
گوسفندان حواست را بران ** در چرا از أخرج المرعی چران
That there they may browse on hyacinth and wild-rose; that they may make their way to the garden of the Realities;
تا در آن جا سنبل و نسرین چرند ** تا به گلزار حقایق ره برند
(That) every sense of thine may become an apostle to the senses (of others), so that severally they may go towards that Paradise;3245
هر حست پیغمبر حسها شود ** تا یکایک سوی آن جنت رود
(And then those) senses will tell their secret to thy senses, without the proper meaning, without tongue, and without metaphor;
حسها با حس تو گویند راز ** بیزبان و بیحقیقت بیمجاز
For this proper meaning admits of (different) interpretations, and this guesswork is the source of (vain) imaginings;
کاین حقیقت قابل تاویلهاست ** وین توهم مایهی تخییلهاست
(But in the case of) that truth which is (perceived) from intuition, there is no room for any interpretation.
آن حقیقت را که باشد از عیان ** هیچ تاویلی نگنجد در میان
When every sense has become subject to thy sense, the heavenly spheres cannot avoid (obedience to) thee.
چون که هر حس بندهی حس تو شد ** مر فلکها را نباشد از تو بد
When a dispute takes place as to the ownership of the husk, the husk belongs to him who possesses the kernel.3250
چون که دعویی رود در ملک پوست ** مغز آن کی بود قشر آن اوست
When there happens to be a quarrel about a load of straw, observe who is the owner of the grain.
چون تنازع در فتد در تنگ کاه ** دانه آن کیست آن را کن نگاه
The heavenly sphere, then, is the husk, and the light of the spirit is the kernel. This (sky) is visible, that (spirit) is concealed; (but) do not stumble on this account.
پس فلک قشر است و نور روح مغز ** این پدید است آن خفی زین رو ملغز