God, God! When the gnostic speaks of “wine,” how in the gnostic's eyes should the (materially) non-existent be a (material) thing?
الله الله چونک عارف گفت می ** پیش عارف کی بود معدوم شی
Since your understanding is (only of) the Devil's wine, how should you have any conception of the wine of the Merciful (God)?
فهم تو چون باده‌ی شیطان بود ** کی ترا وهم می رحمان بود
These twain—the minstrel and the wine—are partners: this one quickly leads to that, and that one to this.
این دو انبازند مطرب با شراب ** این بدان و آن بدین آرد شتاب
They that are full of crop-sickness feed on the song of the minstrel: the minstrels bring them to the tavern.660
پر خماران از دم مطرب چرند ** مطربانشان سوی میخانه برند
That one (the minstrel) is the beginning of the (lover's) course, and this (tavern) is the end thereof: the witless (lover) is like a ball in (the sway of) his polo-bat.
آن سر میدان و این پایان اوست ** دل شده چون گوی در چوگان اوست
The ear goes (inclines) to that which is in the head: if there is yellow bile in the head, it becomes black bile.
در سر آنچ هست گوش آنجا رود ** در سر ار صفراست آن سودا شود
Afterwards, these twain (the minstrel and the lover) pass into unconsciousness: there the begetter and the begotten become one.
بعد از آن این دو به بیهوشی روند ** والد و مولود آنجا یک شوند
When joy and sorrow made peace (with each other), our Turk awakened the minstrels.
چونک کردند آشتی شادی و درد ** مطربان را ترک ما بیدار کرد
The minstrel began (to sing) a slumberous verse—“Hand me the cup, O Thou whom I see not.665
مطرب آغازید بیتی خوابناک ** که انلنی الکاس یا من لا اراک
Thou art my face: no wonder that I see it not: extreme proximity is a mystifying veil.
انت وجهی لا عجب ان لا اراه ** غایة القرب حجاب الاشتباه