From within me a hundred sweet-breathing silent ones put their hands on their lips, signifying, “It is enough.”
ز اندرونم صدخموش خوشنفس ** دست بر لب میزند یعنی که بس
Silence is the sea, and speech is like the river. The sea is seeking thee: do not seek the river.
خامشی بحرست و گفتن همچو جو ** بحر میجوید ترا جو را مجو
Do not turn thy head away from the indications given by the sea: conclude (the subject)—and God best knoweth the right course.
از اشارتهای دریا سر متاب ** ختم کن والله اعلم بالصواب
That irreverent (objector) made no pause in the words (which he poured forth) in this fashion from those cold (insipid) lips (of his) in the presence of the Prophet.
همچنین پیوسته کرد آن بیادب ** پیش پیغامبر سخن زان سرد لب
Words were assisting (did not fail) him, (but) he was ignorant that hearsay (traditional knowledge) is mere babble in the presence of sight (immediate vision).2065
دست میدادش سخن او بیخبر ** که خبر هرزه بود پیش نظر
Indeed, these matters of hearsay are (only) a substitute for sight: they are not for him who is present, (but) for him who is absent.
این خبرها از نظر خود نایبست ** بهر حاضر نیست بهر غایبست
Whoever has been caused to attain unto sight, before him these matters of hearsay are idle.
هر که او اندر نظر موصول شد ** این خبرها پیش او معزول شد
When you have sat down beside your beloved, after this banish the dallálas (the old women who act as go-betweens).
چونک با معشوق گشتی همنشین ** دفع کن دلالگان را بعد ازین
When any one has passed beyond childhood and has become a man, the letter and the dallála become irksome to him.
هر که از طفلی گذشت و مرد شد ** نامه و دلاله بر وی سرد شد
He reads letters, (but only) for the purpose of teaching (others); he utters words, (but only) for the purpose of making (others) understand.2070
نامه خواند از پی تعلیم را ** حرف گوید از پی تفهیم را