Oh, I wonder whether he is this or that. Tell (me), uncle, for I am left (helpless) in this difficulty.
ای عجب اینست او یا آن بگو ** که بماندم اندرین مشکل عمو
O brother, if he is this, (then) what is that?—for the Seven Heavens are filled with its light—
گر وی اینست ای برادر چیست آن ** پر شده از نور او هفت آسمان
And if he is that (spirit), (then) what is this body, my friend? Oh, I wonder which of these twain he is and who?
ور وی آنست این بدن ای دوست چیست ** ای عجب زین دو کدامین است و کیست
Story of the woman who told her husband that the cat had eaten the meat, (whereupon) the husband put the cat in the balance (in order to weigh her). (Finding that) her weight amounted to half a “mann”, he said, “O wife, the meat weighed half a ‘mann’ and more. If this is the meat, where is the cat? Or if this is the cat, where is the meat?”
حکایت آن زن کی گفت شوهر را کی گوشت را گربه خورد شوهر گربه را به ترازو بر کشید گربه نیم من برآمد گفت ای زن گوشت نیم من بود و افزون اگر این گوشتست گربه کو و اگر این گربه است گوشت کو
There was a man, a householder, who had a very sneering, dirty, and rapacious wife.
بود مردی کدخدا او را زنی ** سخت طناز و پلید و ره‌زنی
Whatever (food) he brought (home), his wife would consume it, and the man was forced to keep silence.3410
هرچه آوردی تلف کردیش زن ** مرد مضطر بود اندر تن زدن
(One day) that family man brought home, for a guest, (some) meat (which he had procured) with infinite pains.
بهر مهمان گوشت آورد آن معیل ** سوی خانه با دو صد جهد طویل
His wife ate it up with kabáb and wine: (when) the man came in, she put him off with useless words.
زن بخوردش با کباب و با شراب ** مرد آمد گفت دفع ناصواب
The man said to her, “Where is the meat? The guest has arrived: one must set nice food before a guest.”
مرد گفتش گوشت کو مهمان رسید ** پیش مهمان لوت می‌باید کشید
“This cat has eaten the meat,” she replied: “hey, go and buy some more meat if you can!”
گفت زن این گربه خورد آن گوشت را ** گوشت دیگر خر اگر باشد هلا
He said (to the servant), “O Aybak, fetch the balance: I will weigh the cat.3415
گفت ای ایبک ترازو را بیار ** گربه را من بر کشم اندر عیار
He weighed her. The cat was half a mann. Then the man said, “O deceitful wife,
بر کشیدش بود گربه نیم من ** پس بگفت آن مرد کای محتال زن
The meat was half a mann and one sitír over; the cat is just half a mann, my lady.
گوشت نیم من بود و افزون یک ستیر ** هست گربه نیم‌من هم ای ستیر
If this is the cat, then where is the meat? Or, if this is the meat, where is the cat? Search (for her)!”
این اگر گربه‌ست پس آن گوشت کو ** ور بود این گوشت گربه کو بجو
If Báyazíd is this (body), what is that spirit? And if he is that spirit, who is this (bodily) image?
بایزید ار این بود آن روح چیست ** ور وی آن روحست این تصویر کیست
’Tis bewilderment on bewilderment. O my friend, (the solution of) this (problem) is not your affair, nor is it mine either.3420
حیرت اندر حیرتست ای یار من ** این نه کار تست و نه هم کار من
He is both (spirit and body), but in the corn-crop the grain is fundamental, while the stalk is derivative.
هر دو او باشد ولیک از ریع زرع ** دانه باشد اصل و آن که پره فرع
(The Divine) Wisdom has bound these contraries together: O butcher, this fleshy thigh-bone goes along with the neck.
حکمت این اضداد را با هم ببست ** ای قصاب این گردران با گردنست
The spirit cannot function without the body; your body is frozen (inanimate) and cold (inert) without the spirit.
روح بی‌قالب نداند کار کرد ** قالبت بی‌جان فسرده بود و سرد
Your body is visible, while your spirit is hidden from view: the business of the world is conducted by means of them both.
قالبت پیدا و آن جانت نهان ** راست شد زین هر دو اسباب جهان
If you throw earth at (some one's) head, his head will not be broken; if you throw water at his head, it will not be broken.3425
خاک را بر سر زنی سر نشکند ** آب را بر سر زنی در نشکند
If you wish to break his head, you bring the earth and the water into contact with each other (and make a lump of clay).
گر تو می‌خواهی که سر را بشکنی ** آب را و خاک را بر هم زنی
When you have broken your head, its water (the spirit) returns to its source, and earth returns to earth on the day of separation.
چون شکستی سر رود آبش به اصل ** خاک سوی خاک آید روز فصل
The providential purpose that God had—namely, humble supplication or obstinate contumacy—was fulfilled by means of the marriage (of body and spirit).
حکمتی که بود حق را ز ازدواج ** گشت حاصل از نیاز و از لجاج
Then (afterwards) there are other marriages that no ear hath heard and no eye hath seen.
باشد آنگه ازدواجات دگر ** لا سمع اذن و لا عین بصر
If the ear had heard, how should the ear have remained (in action) or how should it have apprehended words any more?3430
گر شنیدی اذن کی ماندی اذن ** یا کجا کردی دگر ضبط سخن