And if thou embark in a ship moving on the sea, thou deemest the seashore to be running (along).2370
ور تو در کشتی روی بر یم روان ** ساحل یم را همی بینی دوان
If thou art narrow (oppressed) at heart from (being engaged in) combat, thou deemest the whole atmosphere of the world to be narrow;
گر تو باشی تنگ‌دل از ملحمه ** تنگ بینی جمله دنیا را همه
And if thou art happy as thy friends would desire, this world seems to thee like a garden of roses.
ور تو خوش باشی به کام دوستان ** این جهان بنمایدت چون گلستان
How many a one has gone as far as Syria and ‘Iráq and has seen nothing but unbelief and hypocrisy;
ای بسا کس رفته تا شام و عراق ** او ندیده هیچ جز کفر و نفاق
And how many a one has gone as far as India and Hirá (Herát) and seen nothing but selling and buying;
وی بسا کس رفته تا هند و هری ** او ندیده جز مگر بیع و شری
And how many a one has gone as far as Turkistán and China and seen nothing but deceit and hidden guile!2375
وی بسا کس رفته ترکستان و چین ** او ندیده هیچ جز مکر و کمین
Since he has no object of perception save colour and perfume (external phenomena), let him seek (through) all the climes, (he will see nothing spiritual).
چون ندارد مدرکی جز رنگ و بو ** جمله‌ی اقلیمها را گو بجو
(If) a cow come suddenly into Baghdád and pass from this side (of the city) to that (farther) side,
گاو در بغداد آید ناگهان ** بگذرد او زین سران تا آن سران
Of all (its) pleasures and joys and delights she will see nothing but the rind of a water-melon.
از همه عیش و خوشیها و مزه ** او نبیند جز که قشر خربزه
(If) straw or hay has fallen on the road, (it is) suitable to his (such a one's) bovine or asinine disposition.
که بود افتاده بر ره یا حشیش ** لایق سیران گاوی یا خریش
(Hanging) dry on the nail of (his bestial) nature, like strips of meat (exposed to the sun), his spirit, bound with (the cords of) secondary causes, does not grow;2380
خشک بر میخ طبیعت چون قدید ** بسته‌ی اسباب جانش لا یزید
But the spacious realm where means and causes are torn to shreds (transcended) is the earth of God, O most honourable sire.
وان فضای خرق اسباب و علل ** هست ارض الله ای صدر اجل
It is ever changing, like a (fleeting) picture: the spirit beholds in clairvoyance a world (appearing) anew and anew.
هر زمان مبدل شود چون نقش جان ** نو به نو بیند جهانی در عیان
(Everything), though it be Paradise and the rivers of Eden, becomes ugly when it is congealed (fixed permanently) in one aspect.
گر بود فردوس و انهار بهشت ** چون فسرده‌ی یک صفت شد گشت زشت
Explaining that every percipient sense of man has different objects of perception too, of which the other senses are ignorant, as (for example) every skilled craftsman is unfamiliar with the work of those skilled in other crafts; and its (another sense's) ignorance of that which is not its business does not prove that those objects of perception are non-existent. Although it virtually denies them, yet here in this place we only mean by its ‘denial’ its ignorance.
بیان آنک هر حس مدرکی را از آدمی نیز مدرکاتی دیگرست کی از مدرکات آن حس دگر بی‌خبرست چنانک هر پیشه‌ور استاد اعجمی کار آن استاد دگر پیشه‌ورست و بی‌خبری او از آنک وظیفه‌ی او نیست دلیل نکند کی آن مدرکات نیست اگر چه به حکم حال منکر بود آن را اما از منکری او اینجا جز بی‌خبری نمی‌خواهیم درین مقام
Thy perception is the measure of thy vision of the world: thy impure senses are the veil (which prevents thee from having sight) of the pure (holy men).
Wash thy senses for a while with the water of clairvoyance: know that the garment-washing of the Súfís is like this.2385
مدتی حس را بشو ز آب عیان ** این چنین دان جامه‌شوی صوفیان
When thou hast become purified, the spirit of the pure ones will tear off the veil and attach itself to thee.
چون شدی تو پاک پرده بر کند ** جان پاکان خویش بر تو می‌زند
If the whole world be (filled with) light and (radiant) forms, (only) the eye would be aware of that loveliness.
جمله عالم گر بود نور و صور ** چشم را باشد از آن خوبی خبر
(Suppose) thou hast shut the eye and art bringing forward the ear that thou mayst show unto it the locks and face of an adorable beauty,
چشم بستی گوش می‌آری به پیش ** تا نمایی زلف و رخساره‌ی به تیش
The ear will say, “I do not attend to the (visible) form: if the form utter a cry, I will hearken.
گوش گوید من به صورت نگروم ** صورت ار بانگی زند من بشنوم
I am skilled, but (only) in my own art: my art is (the perception of) a (spoken) word or sound, no more.”2390
عالمم من لکی اندر فن خویش ** فن من جز حرف و صوتی نیست بیش
(And if thou say), “Hey, nose, come and see this beauteous one,” the nose is not fit for this purpose.
هین بیا بینی ببین این خوب را ** نیست در خور بینی این مطلوب را
“If there be any musk or rose-water, I will smell it: this is my art and science and knowledge.
گر بود مشک و گلابی بو برم ** فن من اینست و علم و مخبرم
How should I see the face of that silver-shanked one? Take heed, do not lay (on me) as a task that which cannot be done.”
کی ببینم من رخ آن سیم‌ساق ** هین مکن تکلیف ما لیس یطاق
Again, the crooked (perverted) sense hath naught but crooked (perverse) perception, (so) go crookedly into His presence or go straight, as thou wilt (it matters not).
باز حس کژ نبیند غیر کژ ** خواه کژ غژ پیش او یا راست غژ