Thou camest from a certain place and abode: dost thou know the way of thy coming? Nay.1110
تو ز جایی آمدی وز موطنی ** آمدن را راه دانی هیچ نی
If thou knowest (it) not, (yet) beware of saying that there is no way: by this wayless way we (all) shall depart.
گر ندانی تا نگویی راه نیست ** زین ره بی‌راهه ما را رفتنیست
In dreams thou wanderest happily to left and right: hast thou any knowledge where the way is that leads to that arena?
می‌روی در خواب شادان چپ و راست ** هیچ دانی راه آن میدان کجاست
Shut that (sensual) eye and give thyself up: thou wilt find thyself in the ancient City.
تو ببند آن چشم و خود تسلیم کن ** خویش را بینی در آن شهر کهن
How shouldst thou shut thy (sensual) eye when in this direction a hundred inebriated (languishing) eyes are (as) a bandage on thine eye because of (thy) infatuation (with them)?
چشم چون بندی که صد چشم خمار ** بند چشم تست این سو از غرار
From love of (having) a purchaser (admirer) thou art (looking) with four eyes (intently) in the hope of (gaining) eminence and chieftainship.1115
چارچشمی تو ز عشق مشتری ** بر امید مهتری و سروری
And if thou fall asleep thou seest the purchaser in thy dreams: how should the ill-omened owl dream of aught but a wilderness?
ور بخسپی مشتری بینی به خواب ** چغد بد کی خواب بیند جز خراب
At every moment thou wantest a purchaser cringing (before thee): what hast thou to sell? Nothing, nothing.
مشتری خواهی بهر دم پیچ پیچ ** تو چه داری که فروشی هیچ هیچ
If thy heart had any (spiritual) bread or breakfast, it would have been empty of (desire for worldly) purchasers.
گر دلت را نان بدی یا چاشتی ** از خریداران فراغت داشتی
Story of the person who claimed to be a prophet. They said to him, “What hast thou eaten that thou hast become crazy and art talking in vain?” He replied, “If I had found anything to eat, I should not have become crazy and talked in vain”; for whenever they (the prophets and saints) speak goodly words to people unworthy to hear them, they will have talked in vain, although they are (divinely) commanded to talk thus in vain.
قصه‌ی آن شخص کی دعوی پیغامبری می‌کرد گفتندش چه خورده‌ای کی گیج شده‌ای و یاوه می‌گویی گفت اگر چیزی یافتمی کی خوردمی نه گیج شدمی و نه یاوه گفتمی کی هر سخن نیک کی با غیر اهلش گویند یاوه گفته باشند اگر چه در آن یاوه گفتن مامورند
A certain man was saying, “I am a prophet: I am superior to all the prophets.”
آن یکی می‌گفت من پیغامبرم ** از همه پیغامبران فاضلترم
They bound his neck and took him to the king, saying, “This man says he is a prophet sent by God.”1120
گردنش بستند و بردندش به شاه ** کین همی گوید رسولم از اله
The people (were) gathered round him (thick) as ants and locusts, crying, “What deceit and imposture and trap is (this)?
خلق بر وی جمع چون مور و ملخ ** که چه مکرست و چه تزویر و چه فخ
If he that comes from (the realm of) non-existence is a prophet, we all are prophets and grand (in spiritual eminence).
گر رسول آنست که آید از عدم ** ما همه پیغامبریم و محتشم
We (too) came hither as strangers from that place (realm): why shouldst thou be specially endowed (with prophecy), O accomplished one?”
ما از آنجا آمدیم اینجا غریب ** تو چرا مخصوص باشی ای ادیب
(He replied), “Did not ye come like a sleeping child? Ye were ignorant of the way and the destination.
نه شما چون طفل خفته آمدیت ** بی‌خبر از راه وز منزل بدیت
Ye passed through the (different) stages asleep and intoxicated, unconscious of the way and (its) ups and downs;1125
از منازل خفته بگذشتید و مست ** بی‌خبر از راه و از بالا و پست
(But) we (prophets) set out in wakefulness and well (aware) from beyond the five (senses) and the six (directions) to (this world of) the five and six,
ما به بیداری روان گشتیم و خوش ** از ورای پنج و شش تا پنج و شش
Having perceived (all) the stages from the source and foundation, possessed of experience and knowing the way like (skilled) guides.”
دیده منزلها ز اصل و از اساس ** چون قلاووز آن خبیر و ره‌شناس
They said to the king, “Put him to the rack, that a person of his sort may never (again) speak such words.”
شاه را گفتند اشکنجه‌ش بکن ** تا نگوید جنس او هیچ این سخن
The king saw that he was very thin and infirm, so that such an emaciated man would die at a single blow.
شاه دیدش بس نزار و بس ضعیف ** که به یک سیلی بمیرد آن نحیف
(He thought to himself), “How is it possible to torture or beat him, since his body has become as (fragile as) a glass?1130
کی توان او را فشردن یا زدن ** که چو شیشه گشته است او را بدن
But I will speak to him kindly and say, ‘Why dost thou boast of (this) high estate?’
لیک با او گویم از راه خوشی ** که چرا داری تو لاف سر کشی
For here harshness is of no use: ’tis by gentleness that the snake puts forth its head (is induced to come forth) from the hole.”
که درشتی ناید اینجا هیچ کار ** هم به نرمی سر کند از غار مار
He caused the people to withdraw from around him (the claimant): the king was a gracious man, and gentleness was his way.
مردمان را دور کرد از گرد وی ** شه لطیفی بود و نرمی ورد وی
Then he bade him be seated, and asked him concerning his dwelling-place, saying, “Where hast thou thy means of livelihood and refuge?”
پس نشاندش باز پرسیدش ز جا ** که کجا داری معاش و ملتجی