He (the captain) lost his way and, (beguiled) by that false dawn, fell like a gnat into the pot of buttermilk.
راه گم کرد او از آن صبح دروغ ** چون مگس افتاد اندر دیگ دوغ
How that military chief repented of the sin which he had committed and adjured the girl not to tell the Caliph anything of what had happened.
پشیمان شدن آن سرلشکر از آن خیانت کی کرد و سوگند دادن او آن کنیزک را کی به خلیفه باز نگوید از آنچ رفت
He was absorbed in that (love-affair) for a while, (but) afterwards he repented of that grievous crime,
چند روزی هم بر آن بد بعد از آن ** شد پشیمان او از آن جرم گران
And adjured her, saying, “O thou whose face is like the sun, do not give the Caliph any hint of what has passed.”
داد سوگندش کای خورشیدرو ** با خلیفه زینچ شد رمزی مگو
When the Caliph saw her he became distraught (with love), and then too his secret was exposed to all.
چون ندید او را خلیفه مست گشت ** پس ز بام افتاد او را نیز طشت
He saw (her to be) a hundred times as beautiful as he (the informer) had described her: how in sooth should seeing be like hearing?3905
دید صد چندان که وصفش کرده بود ** کی بود خود دیده مانند شنود
Description is a picture (drawn) for the eye of intelligence: know that the (sensible) form belongs to the eye, not to the ear.
وصف تصویرست بهر چشم هوش ** صورت آن چشم دان نه زان گوش
A certain man asked an eloquent person, “What are truth and falsehood, O man of goodly discourse?”
کرد مردی از سخن‌دانی سال ** حق و باطل چیست ای نیکو مقال
He took hold of his ear and said, “This is false: the eye is true and possesses certainty.”
گوش را بگرفت و گفت این باطلست ** چشم حقست و یقینش حاصلست
The former is relatively false as compared with the latter: most sayings are relative, O trusty one.
آن به نسبت باطل آمد پیش این ** نسبتست اغلب سخنها ای امین
If the bat screens itself from the sun, (yet) it is not screened from the fancy (idea) of the sun.3910
ز آفتاب ار کرد خفاش احتجاب ** نیست محجوب از خیال آفتاب
Even the fancy (idea) of it (the sun) puts fear into it (the bat): that fancy leads it towards the darkness.
خوف او را خود خیالش می‌دهد ** آن خیالش سوی ظلمت می‌کشد
That fancy (idea) of the light terrifies it and causes it to become attached to the night of gloom.
آن خیال نور می‌ترساندش ** بر شب ظلمات می‌چفساندش
’Tis from the fancy (idea) and the picture (thou hast formed) of thy enemy that thou hast become attached to thy comrade and friend.
از خیال دشمن و تصویر اوست ** که تو بر چفسیده‌ای بر یار و دوست
O Moses, the revelation given to thee illumined the mountain, (but) the fancy conceiving (mountain) could not endure thy real experience (of the revelation).
موسیا کشفت لمع بر که فراشت ** آن مخیل تاب تحقیقت نداشت
Hark, be not deluded by (the belief) that thou art able to conceive the fancy (idea) thereof and by this means canst attain (to the reality).3915
هین مشو غره بدانک قابلی ** مر خیالش را و زین ره واصلی
No one was ever terrified by the (mere) fancy (idea) of war: there is no bravery before (actual) war. Know this, and ’tis enough.
از خیال حرب نهراسید کس ** لا شجاعه قبل حرب این دان و بس
(Possessed) with the fancy (idea) of war, the poltroon makes, in his thoughts, a hundred heroic attacks (on the enemy).
بر خیال حرب خیز اندر فکر ** می‌کند چون رستمان صد کر و فر
The antagonist (conceived) in the mind of every raw (weakling) is the picture of Rustam that may be (found) in a bath-house.
نقش رستم که آن به حمامی بود ** قرن حمله فکر هر خامی بود
When this fancy (idea) derived from hearing becomes (actually) visible, what of the poltroon? (Even) a Rustam (hero) is compelled (to submit).
این خیال سمع چون مبصر شود ** حیز چه بود رستمی مضطر شود
Endeavour that it (the fancy) may pass from thine ear into thine eye, and that what has (hitherto) been unreal may become real.3920
جهد کن کز گوش در چشمت رود ** آنچ که آن باطل بدست آن حق شود
After that, thine ear will become connatural with thine eye: the two ears, (gross) as wool, will become of pure substance (and subtle);
زان سپس گوشت شود هم طبع چشم ** گوهری گردد دو گوش هم‌چو یشم
Nay, thy whole body will become like a mirror: it will become all eye and pure spiritual substance.
بلک جمله تن چو آیینه شود ** جمله چشم و گوهر سینه شود
The ear rouses a fancy, and that fancy is the go-between (that leads) to union with that Beauty.
گوش انگیزد خیال و آن خیال ** هست دلاله‌ی وصال آن جمال
Endeavour that this fancy may increase, so that the go-between may become a guide for Majnún.
جهد کن تا این خیال افزون شود ** تا دلاله رهبر مجنون شود
That foolish Caliph, too, was mightily infatuated for awhile with that girl.3925
آن خلیفه گول هم یک چند نیز ** ریش گاوی کرد خوش با آن کنیز