- Conventional knowledge is the bane of our souls; it is a borrowed thing, but we rest (at ease in the belief) that it is ours.
- علم تقلیدی وبال جان ماست ** عاریه ست و ما نشسته کان ماست
- It behoves us to become ignorant of this (worldly) wisdom; (rather) must we clutch at madness.
- زین خرد جاهل همی باید شدن ** دست در دیوانگی باید زدن
- Always flee from whatever you deem profitable to your (lower) self: drink poison and spill the water of life.
- هر چه بینی سود خود ز آن میگریز ** زهر نوش و آب حیوان را بریز
- Revile any one that praises you: lend (both) interest and capital to the destitute. 2330
- هر که بستاند ترا دشنام ده ** سود و سرمایه به مفلس وام ده
- Let safety go, and dwell in the place of fear (danger): leave reputation behind and be disgraced and notorious.
- ایمنی بگذار و جای خوف باش ** بگذر از ناموس و رسوا باش و فاش
- I have tried far-thinking (provident) intellect; henceforth I will make myself mad.
- آزمودم عقل دور اندیش را ** بعد از این دیوانه سازم خویش را
- How Dalqak excused himself to the Sayyid-i Ajall (who asked him) why he had married a harlot.
- عذر گفتن دلقک با سید که چرا فاحشه را نکاح کرد
- One night the Sayyid-i Ajall said to Dalqak, “You have married a harlot in haste.
- گفت با دلقک شبی سید اجل ** قحبهای را خواستی تو از عجل
- You ought to have disclosed this (matter) to me, so that we might have made a chaste (woman) your wife.”
- با من این را باز میبایست گفت ** تا یکی مستور کردیمیت جفت
- Dalqak replied, “I have (already) married nine chaste and virtuous women: they became harlots, and I wasted away with grief. 2335
- گفت نه مستور صالح خواستم ** قحبه گشتند و ز غم تن کاستم
- I married this harlot without (previous) acquaintance (with her), in order to see how this one (also) would turn out in the end.
- خواستم این قحبه را بیمعرفت ** تا ببینم چون شود این عاقبت
- Often have I tried (sound) intelligence; henceforth I will seek a nursery for insanity.”
- عقل را من آزمودم هم بسی ** زین سپس جویم جنون را مغرسی
- How an inquirer managed to draw into conversation an eminent (saintly) man who had feigned to be mad.
- به حیلت در سخن آوردن سائل آن بزرگ را که خود را دیوانه ساخته بود
- A certain man was saying, “I want some one of intelligence, (that) I may consult him about a difficulty.”
- آن یکی میگفت خواهم عاقلی ** مشورت آرم بدو در مشکلی
- One said to him, “In our city there is nobody of intelligence except yonder man who appears to be mad.
- آن یکی گفتش که اندر شهر ما ** نیست عاقل جز که آن مجنوننما
- Look, there is (one named) so-and-so: mounted on a cane, he rides (it as a cock-horse) amongst the children. 2340
- بر نیی گشته سواره نک فلان ** میدواند در میان کودکان
- He is possessed of judgment and (keen as) a spark of fire; he is as the sky in dignity, and as the stars in high estate.
- صاحب رای است و آتش پارهای ** آسمان قدر است و اختر بارهای
- His glory has become the (rational) soul of the Cherubim; he has become concealed in this (feigned) madness.”
- فر او کروبیان را جان شده ست ** او در این دیوانگی پنهان شده ست
- But you must not account every madman a (rational) soul: do not, like Sámirí, lay down your head (in worship) to a calf.
- لیک هر دیوانه را جان نشمری ** سر منه گوساله را چون سامری
- When a manifest saint has declared unto you hundreds of thousands of unseen things and hidden mysteries,
- چون ولیی آشکارا با تو گفت ** صد هزاران غیب و اسرار نهفت
- And you have not had the (proper) understanding and knowledge, (so that) you have not distinguished dung from aloes-wood— 2345
- مر ترا آن فهم و آن دانش نبود ** واندانستی تو سرگین را ز عود
- How, when the saint has made for himself a veil of madness, will you recognise him, O blind one?
- از جنون خود را ولی چون پرده ساخت ** مر و را ای کور کی خواهی شناخت
- If your eye of intuitive certainty is open, behold a (spiritual) captain under every stone.
- گر ترا باز است آن دیدهی یقین ** زیر هر سنگی یکی سرهنگ بین
- To the eye that is open and (as) a guide, every dervish-cloak hath a Moses in its embrace.
- پیش آن چشمی که باز و رهبر است ** هر گلیمی را کلیمی در بر است
- ’Tis only the saint (himself) that makes the saint known and makes fortunate whomsoever he will.
- مر ولی را هم ولی شهره کند ** هر که را او خواست با بهره کند
- No one can recognise him by means of wisdom when he has feigned to be mad. 2350
- کس نداند از خرد او را شناخت ** چون که او مر خویش را دیوانه ساخت
- When a seeing thief steals from a blind man, can he at all detect (the identity of) the thief (who is) in the act of passing?
- چون بدزدد دزد بینایی ز کور ** هیچ یابد دزد را او در عبور