How would the spirit sacrifice itself for the sake of that Breath by the waft whereof a Mary was made pregnant?
روح کی گشتی فدای آن دمی ** کز نسیمش حامله شد مریمی
Each one (of them) would be (as) stiff and immovable as ice: how should they be flying and seeking like locusts?
هر یکی بر جا ترنجیدی چو یخ ** کی بدی پران و جویان چون ملخ
Every mote is in love with that Perfection and hastening upward like a sapling.
ذره ذره عاشقان آن کمال ** میشتابد در علو همچون نهال
Their haste is (saying implicitly) “Glory to God!” They are purifying the body for the sake of the spirit.
سبح لله هست اشتابشان ** تنقیهی تن میکنند از بهر جان
The captain deemed (what was really) a pit to be like a (safe) road: to him the sterile soil appeared goodly, (so) he sowed seed (in it).3860
پهلوان چه را چو ره پنداشته ** شورهاش خوش آمده حب کاشته
Dormiens cum (aliquis) simulacrum (amatae) in somnio videret, cum eo coivit et aqua (seminis) effusa est. [When the sleeper saw an image (of her) in a dream, he coupled with it and (seminal) fluid flowed from him.]
چون خیالی دید آن خفته به خواب ** جفت شد با آن و از وی رفت آب
Postquam somnium abscessit et ipse extemplo experrectus est, sensit illam pupam sibi jam vigilanti coram non adesse. [When the dream departed and he woke up at once, he saw that that doll was not (present) in wakefulness.]
چون برفت آن خواب و شد بیدار زود ** دید که آن لعبت به بیداری نبود
Dixit: “Eheu, aquam meam nihilo ingessi; eheu, dolosi illius (simulacri) dolum expertus sum.” [He said: “Alas! I have borne my fluid (sperm) for nothing. Alas! I have swallowed the coquetry of that artful schemer (image).]
گفت بر هیچ آب خود بردم دریغ ** عشوهی آن عشوهده خوردم دریغ
Fuit ille dux (nonnisi) corporis imperator, revera vir non fuit: virilatis semen in ejusmodi arena sevit. [That one was a captain of the body (only), he lacked (true) manliness: he sowed the seed of manliness in such (a place of) sand.]
پهلوان تن بد آن مردی نداشت ** تخم مردی در چنان ریگی بکاشت
The steed of his love tore up a hundred bridles: he (the captain) was shouting, “I care naught for death.3865
مرکب عشقش دریده صد لگام ** نعره میزد لا ابالی بالحمام
What should I care about the Caliph? (Since I am) in love, my life and death are the same to me.”
Prithee, do not sow with such ardour and heat: take counsel with a (spiritual) master.
این چنین سوزان و گرم آخر مکار ** مشورت کن با یکی خاوندگار
(But) where is counsel, where is reason, (when) the torrent of cupidity has extended its talons to destroy (them)?
مشورت کو عقل کو سیلاب آز ** در خرابی کرد ناخنها دراز
A barrier in front and a barrier behind; (but) he that is fascinated by a (lovely) cheek does not see (what is) before or behind.
بین ایدی سد و سوی خلف سد ** پیش و پس کم بیند آن مفتون خد
The black torrent comes to take his life, so that a fox may hurl a lion into the well (of destruction).3870
آمده در قصدجان سیل سیاه ** تا که روبه افکند شیری به چاه
Something (materially) non-existent causes a phantom to appear in a well, in order that it (the phantom) may cast into it lions (strong) as mountains.
از چهی بنموده معدومی خیال ** تا در اندازد اسودا کالجبال
Do not have any one intimate with thy womenfolk, for these two (the man and the woman) may be compared to cotton and sparks of fire.
هیچکس را با زنان محرم مدار ** که مثال این دو پنبهست و شرار
It needs a fire quenched by God's water, one that like Joseph holds fast (to God) in (the hour of) evil temptation,
آتشی باید بشسته ز آب حق ** همچو یوسف معتصم اندر زهق
To withdraw itself (bravely) as lions from a charming Zalíkhá tall and slender as a cypress.
کز زلیخای لطیف سروقد ** همچو شیران خویشتن را واکشد
He (the captain) turned back from Mawsil and went on his way till he encamped in a wooded meadowland.3875
بازگشت از موصل و میشد به راه ** تا فرود آمد به بیشه و مرجگاه
The fire of his love was blazing in such wise that he could not distinguish earth from heaven.
آتش عشقش فروزان آن چنان ** که نداند او زمین از آسمان
He sought to embrace that moon (beauty) in her tent: where (at that time) was his reason and his dread of the Caliph?
قصد آن مه کرد اندر خیمه او ** عقل کو و از خلیفه خوف کو
When lust beats the drum (of victory) in this vale, what is thy reason? A (worthless) radish and the son of a radish.
چون زند شهوت درین وادی دهل ** چیست عقل تو فجل ابن الفجل
To his fiery eye a hundred Caliphs seemed at that moment less than a gnat.
صد خلیفه گشته کمتر از مگس ** پیش چشم آتشینش آن نفس
Postquam ille feminarum cultor bracas exuit et inter crura mulieris recubavit, [When that adorer of women threw off (his) trousers and sat between the woman’s legs,]3880
چون برون انداخت شلوار و نشست ** در میان پای زن آن زنپرست