“Arise, O Bilqís! Come and behold the Kingdom! Gather pearls on the shore of God’s Sea!
خیز بلقیسا بیا و ملک بین ** بر لب دریای یزدان در بچین
Thy sisters are dwelling in the glorious Heaven: why dost thou behave like a sultan on account of (possessing) a carcase?
خواهرانت ساکن چرخ سنی ** تو بمرداری چه سلطانی کنی
Dost thou know at all what noble gifts that Sultan (God) gave to thy sisters?
خواهرانت را ز بخششهای راد ** هیچ میدانی که آن سلطان چه داد
How didst thou jubilantly take drummers (into thy service), proclaiming, ‘I am queen and mistress of the bath-stove’?”
تو ز شادی چون گرفتی طبلزن ** که منم شاه و رئیس گولحن
Parable of Man's being contented with (the goods of) this world, and his greed in seeking (them) and his indifference to the high and blessed estate of the spiritual who are his congeners (and are) crying, "Oh, would that my people might know!"
مثل قانع شدن آدمی به دنیا و حرص او در طلب دنیا و غفلت او از دولت روحانیان کی ابنای جنس ویاند و نعرهزنان کی یا لیت قومی یعلمون
A dog saw a blind beggar in the street, and was rushing at him and tearing his cloak.1045
آن سگی در کو گدای کور دید ** حمله میآورد و دلقش میدرید
We have (already) related this, but it is repeated (here) once again in order to strengthen (the effect of) the story.
گفتهایم این را ولی باری دگر ** شد مکرر بهر تاکید خبر
The blind man said to it (the dog), “Why, at this moment your friends are hunting and seeking prey on the mountain.
کور گفتش آخر آن یاران تو ** بر کهند این دم شکاری صیدجو
Your kinsfolk are catching onagers in the mountains: you are catching blind men in the streets.”
قوم تو در کوه میگیرند گور ** در میان کوی میگیری تو کور
O recalcitrant Shaykh, abandon this imposture: thou art (like) briny water, having gathered some blind men (around thee),
ترک این تزویر گو شیخ نفور ** آب شوری جمع کرده چند کور
(As though implicitly thou wert) saying, “These are my disciples, and I am (like) briny water: they drink of me and become blind.”1050
کین مریدان من و من آب شور ** میخورند از من همی گردند کور
Sweeten thy water with the esoteric Sea: do not make the foul water a snare for these blind ones.
آب خود شیرین کن از بحر لدن ** آب بد را دام این کوران مکن
Arise, behold the lions of God who catch the onager: how art thou, like a dog, catching the blind with a (display of) hypocrisy?
خیز شیران خدا بین گورگیر ** تو چو سگ چونی بزرقی کورگیر
What onager (do they catch)? They are far from hunting aught but the Beloved. They all are lions and lion-catchers and intoxicated with the Light (of God).
گور چه از صید غیر دوست دور ** جمله شیر و شیرگیر و مست نور
In contemplation of the chase and hunting of the King, they have abandoned the chase and have become dead in bewilderment.
در نظاره صید و صیادی شه ** کرده ترک صید و مرده در وله
The Friend has taken them, like a dead bird, that (by means of them) He may hunt down their congeners.1055
همچو مرغ مردهشان بگرفته یار ** تا کند او جنس ایشان را شکار
The dead bird is compelled (deprived of volition) in respect of being united or separated: you have read (the Hadíth), “The heart is between two fingers (of the Merciful God).”
مرغ مرده مضطر اندر وصل و بین ** خواندهای القلب بین اصبعین
Every one that has fallen a prey to His dead bird (will perceive), when he sees (the truth), (that) he has fallen a prey to the King.
مرغ مردهش را هر آنک شد شکار ** چون ببیند شد شکار شهریار
Whoever turned his head away from this dead bird never gained the hand of that Hunter.
هر که او زین مرغ مرده سر بتافت ** دست آن صیاد را هرگز نیافت
It (the dead bird) says, “Do not regard my being a carcase: see the King's love (shown) in preserving me.
گوید او منگر به مرداری من ** عشق شه بین در نگهداری من
I am not a carcase: the King hath killed me: my appearance has become like (that of) the dead.1060
من نه مردارم مرا شه کشته است ** صورت من شبه مرده گشته است
My former motion was by means of wing and pinion: now my motion proceeds from the hand of the (Divine) Judge.
جنبشم زین پیش بود از بال و پر ** جنبشم اکنون ز دست دادگر
My perishable motion has gone forth from my skin: now my motion is everlasting, since it proceeds from Him.
جنبش فانیم بیرون شد ز پوست ** جنبشم باقیست اکنون چون ازوست
If any one move crookedly (misbehave) in the presence of my motion, I will kill him miserably, (even) though he is the Símurgh.
هر که کژ جنبد به پیش جنبشم ** گرچه سیمرغست زارش میکشم
Beware! If thou art (spiritually) alive, do not deem me dead; if thou art a (devoted) slave (of God), regard me (as being) in the hand of the King.
هین مرا مرده مبین گر زندهای ** در کف شاهم نگر گر بندهای
Jesus, by his grace, made the dead to be living: I am in the hand of the Creator of Jesus.1065
مرده زنده کرد عیسی از کرم ** من به کف خالق عیسی درم