If in the world thou art the most learned scholar of the time, behold the passing away of this world and this time!2845
گر تو علامهی زمانی در جهان ** نک فنای این جهان بین وین زمان
We have stitched in (inserted) the (story of the) grammarian, that we might teach you the grammar (nahw) of self-effacement (mahw).
مرد نحوی را از آن در دوختیم ** تا شما را نحو محو آموختیم
In self-loss, O venerated friend, thou wilt find the jurisprudence of jurisprudence, the grammar of grammar, and the accidence of accidence.
فقه فقه و نحو نحو و صرف صرف ** در کم آمد یابی ای یار شگرف
That jug of water is (an emblem of) our different sorts of knowledge, and the Caliph is the Tigris of God's knowledge.
آن سبوی آب دانشهای ماست ** و آن خلیفه دجلهی علم خداست
We are carrying jugs full (of water) to the Tigris: if we do not know ourselves to be asses, asses we are.
ما سبوها پر به دجله میبریم ** گر نه خر دانیم خود را ما خریم
After all, the Bedouin was excusable, for he was inattentive and very blind to the Tigris and of the (great) river.2850
باری اعرابی بدان معذور بود ** کو ز دجله بیخبر بود و ز رود
If he had been acquainted with the Tigris, as we are, he would not have carried that jug from place to place;
گر ز دجله با خبر بودی چو ما ** او نبردی آن سبو را جا به جا
Nay, had he been aware of the Tigris, he would have dashed that jug against a stone.
بلکه از دجله چو واقف آمدی ** آن سبو را بر سر سنگی زدی
How the Caliph accepted the gift and bestowed largesse, notwithstanding that he was entirely without need of the gift (the water) and the jug.
قبول کردن خلیفه هدیه را و عطا فرمودن با کمال بینیازی از آن هدیه و از آن سبو
When the Caliph saw (the gift) and heard his story, he filled the jug with gold and added (other presents).
چون خلیفه دید و احوالش شنید ** آن سبو را پر ز زر کرد و مزید
He delivered the Arab from penury, he bestowed donations and special robes of honour,
آن عرب را کرد از فاقه خلاص ** داد بخششها و خلعتهای خاص
Saying, “Give into his hand this jug full of gold. When he returns (home), take him to the Tigris.2855
کاین سبو پر زر به دست او دهید ** چون که واگردد سوی دجلهش برید
He has come (hither) by way of the desert and by travelling (on land): it will be nearer for him (to return) by way of the Tigris.”
از ره خشک آمده ست و از سفر ** از ره آبش بود نزدیکتر
When he (the Arab) embarked in the boat and beheld the Tigris, he was prostrating himself in shame and bowing (his head),
چون به کشتی درنشست و دجله دید ** سجده میکرد از حیا و میخمید
Saying, “Oh, wonderful is the kindness of this bounteous King, and ’tis (even) more wonderful that he took that water.
کای عجب لطف این شه وهاب را ** وین عجبتر کو ستد آن آب را
How did that Sea of munificence so quickly accept from me such spurious coin as that?”
چون پذیرفت از من آن دریای جود ** آن چنان نقد دغل را زود زود
Know, O son, that everything in the universe is a jug which is (filled) to the brim with wisdom and beauty.2860
کل عالم را سبو دان ای پسر ** کاو بود از علم و خوبی تا به سر
It (everything in the universe) is a drop of the Tigris of His beauty, which (beauty) because of its fullness is not contained under the skin (that should enclose it).
قطرهای از دجلهی خوبی اوست ** کان نمیگنجد ز پری زیر پوست
’Twas a hidden treasure: because of its fullness it burst forth and made the earth more shining than the heavens.
گنج مخفی بد ز پری چاک کرد ** خاک را تابان تر از افلاک کرد
’Twas a hidden treasure: because of its fullness it surged up and made the earth (like) a sultan robed in satin.
گنج مخفی بد ز پری جوش کرد ** خاک را سلطان اطلس پوش کرد
And if he (the Arab) had seen a branch of the Divine Tigris, he would have destroyed that jug, destroyed it.
ور بدیدی شاخی از دجلهی خدا ** آن سبو را او فنا کردی فنا
They that saw it are always beside themselves: like one beside himself, they hurled a stone at the jug (of their self-existence).2865
آن که دیدندش همیشه بیخودند ** بیخودانه بر سبو سنگی زدند
O thou who from jealousy hast hurled a stone at the jug, and thy brokenness has in truth become soundness,
ای ز غیرت بر سبو سنگی زده ** و این سبو ز اشکست کاملتر شده
The jar is shattered, (but) the water is not spilled from it: from this shattering have arisen a hundred soundnesses.
خم شکسته آب از او ناریخته ** صد درستی زین شکست انگیخته
Every piece of the jar is in dance and ecstasy, (though) to the partial (discursive) reason this seems absurd.
جزو جزو خم به رقص است و به حال ** عقل جزوی را نموده این محال
In this state (of ecstasy) neither the jug is manifest nor the water. Consider well, and God knoweth best what is right.
نی سبو پیدا در این حالت نه آب ** خوش ببین و الله اعلم بالصواب