O king, if you take away the staff from an old man, he will be more grieved than that party (the magicians) were (grieved) by (the amputation of) their hands and feet.
گر عصا بستانی از پیری شها ** بیش رنجد که آن گروه از دست و پا
The cry, “No harm,” reached Heaven: (they said to Pharaoh), “Hark, cut (them) off, for our souls are delivered from the agony.
نعرهی لاضیر بر گردون رسید ** هین ببر که جان ز جان کندن رهید
We have come to know (that) we are not this body: beyond the body we are living through God.”3340
ما بدانستیم ما این تن نهایم ** از ورای تن به یزدان میزییم
Oh, blest is he that has recognised his (real) essence and built (for himself) a palace in everlasting security.
ای خنک آن را که ذات خود شناخت ** اندر امن سرمدی قصری بساخت
A child weeps for walnuts and raisins; those are very trifling things in the view of a reasonable man.
کودکی گرید پی جوز و مویز ** پیش عاقل باشد آن بس سهل چیز
(So) in the spirit's view the body is (like) walnuts and raisins, (but) how should (one who is) a child (in spiritual matters) attain to the knowledge possessed by (spiritual) men?
پیش دل جوز و مویز آمد جسد ** طفل کی در دانش مردان رسد
Whoever is veiled (from God) is really a child: the man is he who is beyond (all) uncertainty.
هر که محجوبست او خود کودکست ** مرد آن باشد که بیرون از شکست
Siquis barba et testiculis vir esset, every he-goat has a beard and plenty of hair.” [If someone were (defined as) a man by a beard and testicles, every he-goat has a beard and plenty of hair.”]3345
گر بریش و خایه مردستی کسی ** هر بزی را ریش و مو باشد بسی
That goat is a bad leader: he is taking his followers quickly along to the butcher.
پیشوای بد بود آن بز شتاب ** میبرد اصحاب را پیش قصاب
He has combed his beard, saying, “I am the foremost.” (Yes); thou art the foremost, but in the direction of death and anguish.
ریش شانه کرده که من سابقم ** سابقی لیکن به سوی مرگ و غم
Hark, adopt (as thy vocation) travelling (on the Way of righteousness) and abandon thy beard: abandon this egoism and troubled thought,
هین روش بگزین و ترک ریش کن ** ترک این ما و من و تشویش کن
That thou mayst become like the scent of the rose to (God's) lovers (and mayst be) their leader and guide to the Rose-garden.
تا شوی چون بوی گل با عاشقان ** پیشوا و رهنمای گلستان
Who (what) is the scent of the rose? The breath (voice) of reason and intelligence (which is) a sweet guide on the way to the Kingdom Everlasting.3350
کیست بوی گل دم عقل و خرد ** خوش قلاووز ره ملک ابد
How the King (Mahmúd) once more commanded Ayáz, saying, "Give a clear explanation concerning thy rustic shoon and sheepskin jacket in order that thy fellow-servants may be admonished by that indication, for (the Prophet has said), ‘Religion consists in (giving) sincere counsel.’"
فرمودن شاه به ایاز بار دگر کی شرح چارق و پوستین آشکارا بگو تا خواجه تاشانت از آن اشارت پند گیرد کی الدین النصیحة و موعظه یابند
“O Ayáz, declare the mystery of the rustic shoon and why in the presence of the shoon thou showest all this humility,
سر چارق را بیان کن ای ایاز ** پیش چارق چیستت چندین نیاز
So that thy (fellow-servants) Sunqur and Bakyáruq may hear the inmost secret of thy sheepskin jacket and rustic shoon.
تا بنوشد سنقر و بک یا رقت ** سر سر پوستین و چارقت
O Ayáz, slavery hath gained lustre from thee: thy lustre hath sped from lowliness towards heaven.
ای ایاز از تو غلامی نور یافت ** نورت از پستی سوی گردون شتافت
Servitude has become an object of regret to the free, since thou hast given life (and splendour) to servitude.
حسرت آزادگان شد بندگی ** بندگی را چون تو دادی زندگی
The true believer is he by whose true belief amidst the ebb and flow (of fortune) the infidel is made regretful.”3355
مؤمن آن باشد که اندر جزر و مد ** کافر از ایمان او حسرت خورد
Story of the infidel whom, in the time of Abá Yazíd (Báyazíd), they invited to become a Moslem; and how he answered them.
حکایت کافری کی گفتندش در عهد ابا یزید کی مسلمان شو و جواب گفتن او ایشان را
There was a certain infidel in the time of Báyazíd: a blessed Moslem said to him,
بود گبری در زمان بایزید ** گفت او را یک مسلمان سعید
“How would it be if you profess Islam, so that you may gain a hundred salvations and sovereignties?”
که چه باشد گر تو اسلام آوری ** تا بیابی صد نجات و سروری
He replied, “If this Faith (of thine), O disciple, is (the same as) that which is held by Báyazíd, the Shaykh (spiritual Director) of the world,
گفت این ایمان اگر هست ای مرید ** آنک دارد شیخ عالم بایزید
I cannot endure the glowing heat thereof, which is too great for (all) the strivings of my soul (to attain unto it).
من ندارم طاقت آن تاب آن ** که آن فزون آمد ز کوششهای جان
Although I feel no certainty as regards the Faith and Religion (of Islam), yet I believe mightily in his Faith.3360
گرچه در ایمان و دین ناموقنم ** لیک در ایمان او بس مؤمنم
I hold the faith that that (Faith of his) is higher than all (others): ’tis very beautiful, resplendent, and glorious.
دارم ایمان که آن ز جمله برترست ** بس لطیف و با فروغ و با فرست
Inwardly I am a believer in his Faith, though a seal is set firmly on my mouth.
مؤمن ایمان اویم در نهان ** گرچه مهرم هست محکم بر دهان