Do thou leave me, henceforth advance (alone): this is my limit, O sultan of the soul!”
تو مرا بگذار زین پس پیش ران ** حد من این بود ای سلطان جان
Whoever, through heedlessness, remains without thanksgiving and patience (selfcontrol), knows (no resource) but this, that he should follow in the heels of necessity (jabr).
هر که ماند از کاهلی بیشکر و صبر ** او همین داند که گیرد پای جبر
Any one who pleads necessity (as an excuse) feigns himself to be ill, with the result that the (feigned) illness brings him to the grave.
هر که جبر آورد خود رنجور کرد ** تا همان رنجوریاش در گور کرد
The Prophet said, “Illness (assumed) in jest brings (real) disease, so that he (the jester) dies like a lamp.”1070
گفت پیغمبر که رنجوری به لاغ ** رنج آرد تا بمیرد چون چراغ
What is (the meaning of) jabr? To bind up a broken (limb) or tie a severed vein.
جبر چه بود بستن اشکسته را ** یا بپیوستن رگی بگسسته را
Inasmuch as you have not broken your foot in this path, whom are you mocking? Why have you bandaged your foot?
چون در این ره پای خود نشکستهای ** بر که میخندی چه پا را بستهای
But as for him who broke his foot in the path of exertion, Buráq came up to him, and he mounted (and rode).
و آن که پایش در ره کوشش شکست ** در رسید او را براق و بر نشست
He was a bearer of the (true) religion, and he became one who is borne; he was an accepter of the (Divine) command, and he became accepted.
حامل دین بود او محمول شد ** قابل فرمان بد او مقبول شد
Until now, he was receiving commands from the King; henceforth he delivers the (King's) commands to the people.1075
تا کنون فرمان پذیرفتی ز شاه ** بعد از این فرمان رساند بر سپاه
Until now, the stars were influencing him; henceforth he is the ruler of the stars.
تا کنون اختر اثر کردی در او ** بعد از این باشد امیر اختر او
If (on this account) perplexity arise in thy sight (mind), then thou wilt have doubts concerning The moon was cloven asunder.
گر ترا اشکال آید در نظر ** پس تو شک داری در انشق القمر
Refresh thy faith, (but) not with talk of the tongue, O thou who hast secretly refreshed thy (evil) desire.
تازه کن ایمان نه از گفت زبان ** ای هوا را تازه کرده در نهان
So long as desire is fresh, faith is not fresh, for ’tis this desire that locks (against thee) that gate.
تا هوا تازه ست ایمان تازه نیست ** کاین هوا جز قفل آن دروازه نیست
Thou hast interpreted (and altered the meaning of) the virgin (uncorrupted) Word: interpret (alter) thyself, not the (Divine) Book.1080
کردهای تاویل حرف بکر را ** خویش را تاویل کن نی ذکر را
Thou interpretest the Qur’án according to thy desire: by thee the sublime meaning is degraded and perverted.
بر هوا تاویل قرآن میکنی ** پست و کژ شد از تو معنی سنی
The baseness of the foul interpretation given by the fly.
زیافت تاویل رکیک مگس
The fly was lifting up his head, like a pilot, on a blade of straw and (a pool of) ass's urine.
آن مگس بر برگ کاه و بول خر ** همچو کشتیبان همیافراشت سر
“I have called (them) sea and ship,” said he; “I have been pondering over that (interpretation) for a long while.
گفت من دریا و کشتی خواندهام ** مدتی در فکر آن میماندهام
Look! here is this sea and this ship, and I am the pilot and skilled (in navigation) and judicious.”
اینک این دریا و این کشتی و من ** مرد کشتیبان و اهل و رایزن
He was propelling the raft on the “sea”: that (small) quantity appeared to him illimitable.1085
بر سر دریا همیراند او عمد ** مینمودش آن قدر بیرون ز حد
That urine was boundless in relation to him: where was the vision that should see it truly?
بود بیحد آن چمین نسبت بدو ** آن نظر که بیند آن را راست کو
His world extends (just) as far as his sight reaches; his eye is so big, his “sea” is big in the same proportion.
عالمش چندان بود کش بینش است ** چشم چندین بحر هم چندینش است
So with the false interpreter (of the Qur’án): like the fly, his imagination is (foul as) ass's urine and his conception (worthless as) a straw.
صاحب تاویل باطل چون مگس ** وهم او بول خر و تصویر خس
If the fly leave off interpreting by (following his own) opinion, Fortune will turn that fly into a humáy.
گر مگس تاویل بگذارد به رای ** آن مگس را بخت گرداند همای
One who possesses this (Divine) indication (of the true meaning) is not a fly: his spirit is not analogous to his (outward) form.1090
آن مگس نبود کش این عبرت بود ** روح او نی در خور صورت بود
How the lion roared wrathfully because the hare was late in coming.
تولیدن شیر از دیر آمدن خرگوش
As (for example) the hare who struck against the lion: how was his spirit analogous to his stature?
همچو آن خرگوش کاو بر شیر زد ** روح او کی بود اندر خورد قد