(Namely) those answers to the questions of Moses which Khadir, (inspired) by the all-knowing Lord, set forth to him,
آن جوابات سؤالات کلیم ** کش خضر بنمود از رب علیم
(So that) his difficulties became solved, and he (Khadir) gave to him (Moses) the key to every question (in a way) beyond telling.
گشت مشکلهاش حل و افزون زیاد ** از پی هر مشکلش مفتاح داد
The dervish also had (a spiritual) inheritance from Khadir; (hence) he bent his will to answering the Shaykh.3530
از خضر درویش هم میراث داشت ** در جواب شیخ همت بر گماشت
He said, “Although the middle path is (the way of) wisdom, yet the middle path too is relative.
گفت راه اوسط ار چه حکمت است ** لیک اوسط نیز هم با نسبت است
Relatively to a camel, the water in the stream is little, but to a mouse it is like the ocean.
آب جو نسبت به اشتر هست کم ** لیک باشد موش را آن همچو یم
If any one has an allowance of four loaves and eats two or three, that is the mean;
هر که را باشد وظیفه چار نان ** دو خورد یا سه خورد هست اوسط آن
But if he eat all the four, it is far from the mean: he is in bondage to greed, like a duck.
ور خورد هر چار دور از اوسط است ** او اسیر حرص مانند بط است
If one has appetite for ten loaves and eats six, know that that is the mean.3535
هر که او را اشتها ده نان بود ** شش خورد میدان که اوسط آن بود
When I have appetite for fifty loaves, and you for (no more than) six scones, we are not equivalent.
چون مرا پنجاه نان هست اشتهی ** مر ترا شش گرده هم دستیم نی
You may be tired by ten rak‘as (of prayer), I may not be worn thin by five hundred.
تو به ده رکعت نماز آیی ملول ** من به پانصد در نیایم در نحول
One goes bare-foot (all the way) to the Ka‘ba, and one becomes beside himself (with exhaustion in going) as far as the mosque.
آن یکی تا کعبه حافی میرود ** و آن یکی تا مسجد از خود میشود
One in utter self-devotion gives his life, one is agonised at giving a single loaf.
آن یکی در پاکبازی جان بداد ** وین یکی جان کند تا یک نان بداد
This mean belongs to (the realm of) the finite, for that (finite) has a beginning and end.3540
این وسط در با نهایت میرود ** که مرا آن را اول و آخر بود
A beginning and end are necessary in order that the mean or middle (point) between them may be conceived in imagination.
اول و آخر بباید تا در آن ** در تصور گنجد اوسط یا میان
Inasmuch as the infinite has not (these) two limits, how should the mean be applicable to it?
بینهایت چون ندارد دو طرف ** کی بود او را میانه منصرف
No one has shown it to have beginning or end. He (God) said, ‘If the sea were to become ink for it (the Word of God)…’
اول و آخر نشانش کس نداد ** گفت لو کان له البحر مداد
If the Seven Seas should become entirely ink, (still) there is no hope of coming to an end.
هفت دریا گر شود کلی مداد ** نیست مر پایان شدن را هیچ امید
If orchards and forests should become pens altogether, there would never be any decrease in this Word.3545
باغ و بیشه گر بود یک سر قلم ** زین سخن هرگز نگردد هیچ کم
All that ink and (all those) pens pass away, and this numberless Word is everlasting.
آن همه حبر و قلم فانی شود ** وین حدیث بیعدد باقی بود
At times my state resembles sleep: a misguided person may think it is sleep.
حالت من خواب را ماند گهی ** خواب پندارد مر آن را گمرهی
Know that my eyes are asleep, (but) my heart is awake: know that my (seemingly) inactive form is (really) in action.
چشم من خفته دلم بیدار دان ** شکل بیکار مرا بر کار دان
The Prophet said, ‘My eyes sleep, (but) my heart is not asleep to the Lord of created beings.’
گفت پیغمبر که عینای تنام ** لا ینام قلبی عن رب الأنام
Your eyes are awake, and your heart is sunk in slumber; my eyes are asleep, (but) my heart is in (contemplation of) the opening of the door (of Divine grace).3550
چشم تو بیدار و دل خفته به خواب ** چشم من خفته دلم در فتح باب
My heart hath five senses other (than the physical): both the worlds (external and spiritual) are the stage (theatre) for the senses of the heart.
مر دلم را پنج حس دیگر است ** حس دل را هر دو عالم منظر است
Do not regard me from (the standpoint of) your infirmity: to you ’tis night, to me that same night is morningtide.
تو ز ضعف خود مکن در من نگاه ** بر تو شب بر من همان شب چاشتگاه