And he that is liable to sink and is now that and (now) this is not the (true) beloved: “I love not them that sink.”1430
وانک آفل باشد و گه آن و این ** نیست دلبر لا احب افلین
He that is now pleasing and now unpleasing, at one time water and at one moment fire,
آنک او گاهی خوش و گه ناخوشست ** یک زمانی آب و یک دم آتشست
May be the mansion of the Moon, but he is not the Moon; he may be the picture of the Adored One, but he is not conscious.
برج مه باشد ولیکن ماه نه ** نقش بت باشد ولی آگاه نه
The Súfí that seeks purity is ‘the son of the time’: he has clasped the ‘time’ tightly as (though it were) his father.
هست صوفی صفاجو ابن وقت ** وقت را همچون پدر بگرفته سخت
The pure one (sáfí) is plunged in love of the Glorious (God); he is not the son of any one, (he is) free from ‘times’ and ‘states’—
هست صافی غرق عشق ذوالجلال ** ابن کس نه فارغ از اوقات و حال
Plunged in the Light which is unbegotten: (the description) He neither begetteth nor is He begotten belongs to God (alone).1435
غرقه‌ی نوری که او لم یولدست ** لم یلد لم یولد آن ایزدست
Go, seek a love like this, if thou art (spiritually) alive; otherwise, thou art a slave to the changing “time.”
رو چنین عشقی بجو گر زنده‌ای ** ورنه وقت مختلف را بنده‌ای
Do not regard thy ugly or beauteous form; regard Love and the object of thy search.
منگر اندر نقش زشت و خوب خویش ** بنگر اندر عشق و در مطلوب خویش
Do not regard the fact that thou art despicable or infirm; look upon thy aspiration, O noble one.
منگر آنک تو حقیری یا ضعیف ** بنگر اندر همت خود ای شریف
In whatsoever state thou be, keep searching; O thou with dry lip, always be seeking the water,
تو به هر حالی که باشی می‌طلب ** آب می‌جو دایما ای خشک‌لب
For that dry lip of thine gives evidence that at last it will reach the springhead.1440
کان لب خشکت گواهی می‌دهد ** کو بخر بر سر منبع رسد
Dryness of lip is a message from the water (to say) that this agitation (anxious search) will certainly bring thee to the water,
خشکی لب هست پیغامی ز آب ** که بمات آرد یقین این اضطراب
For this seeking is a blessed motion; this search is a killer of obstacles on the Way to God.
کین طلب‌کاری مبارک جنبشیست ** این طلب در راه حق مانع کشیست
This search is the key to the things sought by thee; this (search) is thy army and the victory of thy banners.
این طلب مفتاح مطلوبات تست ** این سپاه و نصرت رایات تست
This search is like a cock crowing and proclaiming that the dawn is at hand.
این طلب همچون خروسی در صیاح ** می‌زند نعره که می‌آید صباح
Although thou hast no equipment, do thou be ever seeking: equipment is not necessary on the Way of the Lord.1445
گرچه آلت نیستت تو می‌طلب ** نیست آلت حاجت اندر راه رب
Whomsoever thou seest engaged in search, O son, become his friend and cast thy head before him,
هر که را بینی طلب‌کار ای پسر ** یار او شو پیش او انداز سر
For through being the neighbour of the seekers thou (thyself) wilt become a seeker, and from the shadows (protection) of the conquerors thou (thyself) wilt become a conqueror.
If an ant has sought (to attain) the rank of Solomon, do not look languidly (contemptuously) on its quest.
گر یکی موری سلیمانی بجست ** منگر اندر جستن او سست سست
Everything that thou hast of wealth and (skill in) a handicraft (or profession)— was it not at first a quest and a thought?
هرچه داری تو ز مال و پیشه‌ای ** نه طلب بود اول و اندیشه‌ای
Story of the person who in the time of David, on whom be peace, used to pray night and day, crying, “Give me a lawful livelihood without trouble (on my part).”
حکایت آن شخص کی در عهد داود شب و روز دعا می‌کرد کی مرا روزی حلال ده بی رنج
In the time of the prophet David a certain man, beside every sage and before every simpleton,1450
آن یکی در عهد داوود نبی ** نزد هر دانا و پیش هر غبی
Used always to utter this prayer: “O God, bestow on me riches without trouble!
این دعا می‌کرد دایم کای خدا ** ثروتی بی رنج روزی کن مرا
Since Thou hast created me a lazybones, a receiver of blows, a slow mover, a sluggard,
چون مرا تو آفریدی کاهلی ** زخم‌خواری سست‌جنبی منبلی
One cannot place on sore-backed luckless asses the load carried by horses and mules.
بر خران پشت‌ریش بی‌مراد ** بار اسپان و استران نتوان نهاد
Inasmuch as Thou, O perfect One, hast created me lazy, do Thou accordingly give me the daily bread by the way of laziness.
کاهلم چون آفریدی ای ملی ** روزیم ده هم ز راه کاهلی