- Wine became intoxicated with us, not we with it; the body came into being from us, not we from it.
- باده از ما مست شد نی ما از او ** قالب از ما هست شد نی ما از او
- We are as bees, and bodies are as wax (honeycomb): we have made the body, cell by cell, like wax.
- ما چو زنبوریم و قالبها چو موم ** خانه خانه کرده قالب را چو موم
- Reverting to the tale of the merchant who went to trade (in India).
- رجوع به حکایت خواجهی تاجر
- This (discourse) is very long. Tell the story of the merchant, that we may see what happened to that good man.
- بس دراز است این حدیث خواجه گو ** تا چه شد احوال آن مرد نکو
- The merchant in fire (burning grief) and anguish and yearning was uttering a hundred distracted phrases like this, 1815
- خواجه اندر آتش و درد و حنین ** صد پراکنده همیگفت این چنین
- Now self-contradiction, now disdain, now supplication, now passion for reality, now metaphor (unreality).
- گه تناقض گاه ناز و گه نیاز ** گاه سودای حقیقت گه مجاز
- The drowning man suffers an agony of soul and clutches at every straw.
- مرد غرقه گشته جانی میکند ** دست را در هر گیاهی میزند
- For fear of (losing) his head (life), he flings about (both) hand and foot to see whether any one will take his hand (help him) in peril.
- تا کدامش دست گیرد در خطر ** دست و پایی میزند از بیم سر
- The Friend loves this agitation: it is better to struggle vainly than to lie still.
- دوست دارد یار این آشفتگی ** کوشش بیهوده به از خفتگی
- He who is the King (of all) is not idle, (though) complaint from Him would be a marvel, for He is not ill. 1820
- آن که او شاه است او بیکار نیست ** ناله از وی طرفه کاو بیمار نیست
- For this reason said the Merciful (God), O son, “Every day He is (busy) in an affair,” O son.
- بهر این فرمود رحمان ای پسر ** کل يوم هو فی شأن ای پسر
- In this Way be thou ever scraping and scratching (exerting thyself to the utmost): until thy last breath do not be unoccupied for a moment,
- اندر این ره میتراش و میخراش ** تا دم آخر دمی فارغ مباش
- So that thy last breath may be a last breath in which the (Divine) favour is thy bosom-friend.
- تا دم آخر دمی آخر بود ** که عنایت با تو صاحب سر بود
- Whatsoever they strive (to do), whether man or woman, the ear and eye of the soul's King are at the window.
- هر چه میکوشند اگر مرد و زن است ** گوش و چشم شاه جان بر روزن است
- How the merchant cast the parrot out of the cage and how the dead parrot flew away.
- برون انداختن مرد تاجر طوطی را از قفس و پریدن طوطی مرده
- After that, he cast her out of the cage. The little parrot flew to a lofty bough. 1825
- بعد از آنش از قفس بیرون فگند ** طوطیک پرید تا شاخ بلند
- The dead parrot made such a (swift) flight as when the orient sun rushed onward.
- طوطی مرده چنان پرواز کرد ** کافتاب از چرخ ترکی تاز کرد
- The merchant was amazed at the action of the bird: without understanding he suddenly beheld the mysteries of the bird.
- خواجه حیران گشت اندر کار مرغ ** بیخبر ناگه بدید اسرار مرغ
- He lifted up his face and said, “O nightingale, give us profit (instruction) by explaining thy case.
- روی بالا کرد و گفت ای عندلیب ** از بیان حال خودمان ده نصیب
- What did she (the parrot) do there (in India), that thou didst learn, devise a trick, and burn us (with grief)”?
- او چه کرد آن جا که تو آموختی ** ساختی مکری و ما را سوختی
- The parrot said, “She by her act counselled me—‘Abandon thy charm of voice and thy affection (for thy master), 1830
- گفت طوطی کاو به فعلم پند داد ** که رها کن لطف آواز و وداد
- Because thy voice has brought thee into bondage’: she feigned herself dead for the sake of (giving me) this counsel,
- ز آن که آوازت ترا در بند کرد ** خویشتن مرده پی این پند کرد
- Meaning (to say), ‘O thou who hast become a singer to high and low, become dead like me, that thou mayst gain release.’”
- یعنی ای مطرب شده با عام و خاص ** مرده شو چون من که تا یابی خلاص
- If you are a grain, the little birds will peck you up; if you are a bud, the children will pluck you off.
- دانه باشی مرغکانت بر چنند ** غنچه باشی کودکانت بر کنند
- Hide the grain (bait), become wholly a snare; hide the bud, become the grass on the roof.
- دانه پنهان کن بکلی دام شو ** غنچه پنهان کن گیاه بام شو
- Any one who offers his beauty to auction, a hundred evil fates set out towards him (and overtake him). 1835
- هر که داد او حسن خود را در مزاد ** صد قضای بد سوی او رو نهاد
- (Evil) eyes and angers and envies pour upon his head, like water from waterskins.
- چشمها و خشمها و رشکها ** بر سرش ریزد چو آب از مشکها