(And we see) whether in that house there are pearls or (grains of) wheat, a treasure of gold or whether all is snakes and scorpions;
کاندر آن خانه گهر یا گندم است ** گنج زر یا جمله مار و کژدم است
Or whether a treasure is there and a serpent beside it, since a treasure of gold is not without some one to keep watch.
یا در او گنج است و ماری بر کران ** ز انکه نبود گنج زر بیپاسبان
Without premeditation he (that slave) would speak in such wise as others after five hundred premeditations.
بیتامل او سخن گفتی چنان ** کز پس پانصد تامل دیگران
You would have said that in his inward part there was a sea, and that the whole sea was pearls of eloquence,850
گفتی اندر باطنش دریاستی ** جمله دریا گوهر گویاستی
(And that) the light that shone from every pearl became a criterion for distinguishing between truth and falsehood.
نور هر گوهر کز او تابان شدی ** حق و باطل را از او فرقان شدی
(So) would the light of the Criterion (Universal Reason), (if it shone into our hearts), distinguish for us truth and falsehood and separate them mote by mote;
نور فرقان فرق کردی بهر ما ** ذره ذره حق و باطل را جدا
The light of the (Divine) Pearl would become the light of our eyes: both the question and the answer would be (would come) from us.
نور گوهر نور چشم ما شدی ** هم سؤال و هم جواب از ما بدی
(But) you have made your eyes awry and seen the moon's disk double: this gazing in perplexity is like the question.
چشم کژ کردی دو دیدی قرص ماه ** چون سؤال است این نظر در اشتباه
Make your eyes straight in the moonshine, so that you may see the moon as one. Lo, (that is) the answer.855
راست گردان چشم را در ماهتاب ** تا یکی بینی تو مه را نک جواب
Your thought, (namely), "Do not see awry, look well!" is just the light and radiance of that Pearl.
فکرتت که کژ مبین نیکو نگر ** هست آن فکرت شعاع آن گهر
Whenever an answer comes to the heart through the ear, the eye says, “Hear it from me; let that (answer given through the ear) alone!”
هر جوابی کان ز گوش آید به دل ** چشم گفت از من شنو آن را بهل
The ear is a go-between, while the eye is possessed of union (immediate vision); the eye has direct experience (of reality), while the ear has (only) words (doctrine).
گوش دلاله ست و چشم اهل وصال ** چشم صاحب حال و گوش اصحاب قال
In the ear's hearing there is a transformation of qualities; in the eyes' seeing there is a transformation of essence.
در شنود گوش تبدیل صفات ** در عیان دیدها تبدیل ذات
If your knowledge of fire has been turned to certainty by words (alone), seek to be cooked (by the fire itself), and do not abide in the certainty (of knowledge derived from others).860
ز آتش ار علمت یقین شد از سخن ** پختگی جو در یقین منزل مکن
There is no intuitive (actual) certainty until you burn; (if) you desire this certainty, sit down in the fire.
تا نسوزی نیست آن عین الیقین ** این یقین خواهی در آتش در نشین
When the ear is penetrating, it becomes an eye; otherwise, the word (of God) becomes entangled in the ear (and does not reach the heart).
گوش چون نافذ بود دیده شود ** ور نه قل در گوش پیچیده شود
This discourse hath no end. Turn back, that (we may see) what the King did to those slaves of his.
این سخن پایان ندارد باز گرد ** تا که شه با آن غلامانش چه کرد
How the King sent away one of the two slaves and interrogated the other.
به راه کردن شاه یکی را از آن دو غلام و از این دیگر پرسیدن
When he saw that that laddie was possessed of keen intelligence, he made a sign to the other to come (to him).
آن غلامک را چو دید اهل ذکا ** آن دگر را کرد اشارت که بیا
(If) I have called him by (a word which has) the suffix of pity (tenderness), ’tis not to belittle him: if a grandfather say “my sonny,” it is not (in) contempt.865
When the second (slave) came before the King, he had a stinking mouth and black teeth.
چون بیامد آن دوم در پیش شاه ** بود او گنده دهان دندان سیاه
Although the King was displeased by his speech, still he made some inquiry concerning his hidden thoughts.
گر چه شه ناخوش شد از گفتار او ** جستجویی کرد هم ز اسرار او
He said, “With this aspect and this foul smell of the mouth, sit at a distance, but do not move too far off—
گفت با این شکل و این گند دهان ** دور بنشین لیک آن سو تر مران
For (hitherto) you have been (with regard to me in the position of) a writer of letters and notes; you have not been a companion and friend and comrade—
که تو اهل نامه و رقعه بدی ** نه جلیس و یار و هم بقعه بدی
That we may treat (and cure) that mouth of yours: you are (now) the beloved (patient), and we are the skilful physician.870
تا علاج آن دهان تو کنیم ** تو حبیب و ما طبیب پر فنیم
’Tis not fitting to burn a new blanket on account of one flea; (nor would it become me) to shut my eyes to (turn my back on) you (because of superficial faults).
بهر کیکی نو گلیمی سوختن ** نیست لایق از تو دیده دوختن