The idol is the black water hidden in the jug; know that the self is the fountain.775
بت سیاهآبهست در کوزه نهان ** نفس مر آب سیه را چشمه دان
That sculptured idol is like the black torrent; the idol-making self is a fountain (jetting muddy water) on the Water-way (the Way that leads to the Water of Life).
آن بت منحوت چون سیل سیاه ** نفس بتگر چشمهای بر آب راه
A single piece of stone will break a hundred pitchers, but the fountain-water is making jets incessantly.
صد سبو را بشکند یک پاره سنگ ** و آب چشمه میزهاند بیدرنگ
’Tis easy to break an idol, very easy; to regard the self as easy (to subdue) is folly, folly.
بت شکستن سهل باشد نیک سهل ** سهل دیدن نفس را جهل است جهل
O son, if you seek (to know) the form of the self, read the story of Hell with its seven gates.
صورت نفس ار بجویی ای پسر ** قصهی دوزخ بخوان با هفت در
Every moment (there proceeds from the self) an act of deceit, and in every one of those deceits a hundred Pharaohs are drowned together with their followers.780
هر نفس مکری و در هر مکر ز آن ** غرقه صد فرعون با فرعونیان
Flee to the God of Moses and to Moses, do not from Pharaoh's quality (rebellious insolence) spill the water of the Faith.
در خدای موسی و موسی گریز ** آب ایمان را ز فرعونی مریز
Lay your hand on (cleave to) the One (God) and Ahmad (Mohammed)! O brother, escape from the Bú Jahl of the body!
دست را اندر احد و احمد بزن ** ای برادر واره از بو جهل تن
How a child began to speak amidst the fire and urged the people to throw themselves into the fire.
به سخن آمدن طفل در میان آتش و تحریض کردن خلق را در افتادن به آتش
That Jew brought to that idol a woman with her child, and the fire was blazing.
یک زنی با طفل آورد آن جهود ** پیش آن بت و آتش اندر شعله بود
He took the child from her and cast it into the fire: the woman was affrighted and withdrew her heart from (abandoned) her faith.
طفل از او بستد در آتش در فکند ** زن بترسید و دل از ایمان بکند
She was about to bow down before the idol (when) the child cried, “Verily, I am not dead.785
خواست تا او سجده آرد پیش بت ** بانگ زد آن طفل إنی لم أمت
Come in, O mother: I am happy here, although in appearance I am amidst the fire.
اندر آ ای مادر اینجا من خوشم ** گر چه در صورت میان آتشم
The fire is a spell that binds the eye for the sake of screening (the truth); this is (in reality) a Divine mercy which has raised its head from the collar (has been manifested from the Unseen).
چشم بند است آتش از بهر حجاب ** رحمت است این سر بر آورده ز جیب
Come in, mother, and see the evidence of God, that thou mayst behold the delight of God's elect.
اندر آ مادر ببین برهان حق ** تا ببینی عشرت خاصان حق
Come in, and see water that has the semblance of fire; (come away) from a world which is (really) fire and (only) has the semblance of water.
اندر آ و آب بین آتش مثال ** از جهانی کاتش است آبش مثال
Come in, and see the mysteries of Abraham, who in the fire found cypress and jessamine.790
اندر آ اسرار ابراهیم بین ** کاو در آتش یافت سرو و یاسمین
I was seeing death at the time of birth from thee: sore was my dread of falling from thee;
مرگ میدیدم گه زادن ز تو ** سخت خوفم بود افتادن ز تو
(But) when I was born, I escaped from the narrow prison (of the womb) into a world of pleasant air and beautiful colour.
چون بزادم رستم از زندان تنگ ** در جهان خوش هوای خوب رنگ
Now I deem the (earthly) world to be like the womb, since in this fire I have seen such rest:
من جهان را چون رحم دیدم کنون ** چون در این آتش بدیدم این سکون
In this fire I have seen a world wherein every atom possesses the (life-giving) breath of Jesus.
اندر این آتش بدیدم عالمی ** ذره ذره اندر او عیسی دمی
Lo, (it is) a world apparently non-existent (but) essentially existent, while that (other) world is apparently existent (but) has no permanence.795
نک جهان نیست شکل هست ذات ** و آن جهان هست شکل بیثبات
Come in, mother, (I beseech thee) by the right of motherhood: see this fire, how it hath no fieriness.
اندر آ مادر به حق مادری ** بین که این آذر ندارد آذری
Come in, mother, for felicity is come; come in, mother, do not let fortune slip from thy hand.
اندر آ مادر که اقبال آمده ست ** اندر آ مادر مده دولت ز دست
Thou hast seen the power of that (Jewish) cur: come in, that thou mayst see the power and the grace of God.
قدرت آن سگ بدیدی اندر آ ** تا ببینی قدرت و لطف خدا
’Tis (only) out of pity that I am drawing thy feet (hither), for indeed such is my rapture that I have no care for thee.
من ز رحمت میکشانم پای تو ** کز طرب خود نیستم پروای تو