From the day when thou camest into existence, thou wert fire or air or earth.
تو از آن روزی که در هست آمدی ** آتشی یا بادی یا خاکی بدی
If thou hadst remained in that condition, how should this (present) height have been reached by thee?790
گر بر آن حالت ترا بودی بقا ** کی رسیدی مر ترا این ارتقا
The Transmuter did not leave thee in thy first (state of) existence: He established a better (state of) existence in the place of that (former one);
از مبدل هستی اول نماند ** هستی بهتر به جای آن نشاند
And so on till (He gave thee) a hundred thousand states of existence, one after the other, the second (always) better than the beginning.
هم‌چنین تا صد هزاران هستها ** بعد یکدیگر دوم به ز ابتدا
Regard (all change as derived) from the Transmuter, leave (ignore) the intermediaries, for by (regarding) the intermediaries thou wilt be come far from their Origin.
از مبدل بین وسایط را بمان ** کز وسایط دور گردی ز اصل آن
Wherever the intermediaries increase, union (with the Origin) is removed: (in proportion as) the intermediaries are less, the delight of (attaining to) union is greater.
واسطه هر جا فزون شد وصل جست ** واسطه کم ذوق وصل افزونترست
By knowing the intermediaries thy bewilderment (in God) is diminished: thy bewilderment gives thee admission to the (Divine) Presence.795
از سبب‌دانی شود کم حیرتت ** حیرت تو ره دهد در حضرتت
Thou hast gained these (successive) lives from (successive) deaths: why hast thou averted thy face from dying in Him?
این بقاها از فناها یافتی ** از فنااش رو چرا برتافتی
What loss was thine (what loss didst thou suffer) from those deaths, that thou hast clung (so tenaciously) to (this earthly) life, O rat?
زان فناها چه زیان بودت که تا ** بر بقا چفسیده‌ای ای نافقا
Since thy second (life) is better than thy first, therefore seek to die (to the world), and worship the Transmuter.
چون دوم از اولینت بهترست ** پس فنا جو و مبدل را پرست
O contumacious man, thou hast experienced a hundred thousand resurrections at every moment from the beginning of thy existence until now:
صد هزاران حشر دیدی ای عنود ** تاکنون هر لحظه از بدو وجود
From inanimateness (thou didst move) unconsciously towards (vegetal) growth, and from (vegetal) growth towards (animal) life and tribulation;800
از جماد بی‌خبر سوی نما ** وز نما سوی حیات و ابتلا
Again, towards reason and goodly discernments; again, towards (what lies) outside of these five (senses) and six (directions).
باز سوی عقل و تمییزات خوش ** باز سوی خارج این پنج و شش
These footprints are (extend) as far as the shore of the Ocean; then the footprints disappear in the Ocean;
تا لب بحر این نشان پایهاست ** پس نشان پا درون بحر لاست
Because, from (Divine) precaution, the resting-places (appointed for the traveller) on the dry land are (like) villages and dwellings and caravanserays,
زانک منزلهای خشکی ز احتیاط ** هست دهها و وطنها و رباط
(While) on the contrary the resting-places of the Ocean, when its billows swell, have no floor or roof (to shelter the traveller) during (his) stay and detention.
باز منزلهای دریا در وقوف ** وقت موج و حبس بی‌عرصه و سقوف
These (Oceanic) stages have no visible beacon: these resting-places have neither sign nor name.805
نیست پیدا آن مراحل را سنام ** نه نشانست آن منازل را نه نام
Between every two resting-places Yonder there is (a distance) a hundred times as much as from the vegetal state to the Essential Spirit.
هست صد چندان میان منزلین ** آن طرف که از نما تا روح عین
Thou hast seen this life (to be implicit) in (previous) deaths: how, (then), art thou (so) attached to the life of the body?
در فناها این بقاها دیده‌ای ** بر بقای جسم چون چفسیده‌ای
Come, O crow, give up this (animal) soul! Be a falcon, be self-sacrificing in the presence of the Divine transmutation.
هین بده ای زاغ این جان باز باش ** پیش تبدیل خدا جانباز باش
Take the new and surrender the old, for every “this year” of thine is superior to three “last years.”
تازه می‌گیر و کهن را می‌سپار ** که هر امسالت فزونست از سه پار
If thou wilt not be lavish (of thyself) like the date-palm, (then) pile old rags on old rags and make a heap,810
گر نباشی نخل‌وار ایثار کن ** کهنه بر کهنه نه و انبار کن
And offer the stinking and rotten old rags to every blind man.
کهنه و گندیده و پوسیده را ** تحفه می‌بر بهر هر نادیده را
He that hath seen the new is not thy customer: he is God's prey, he is not thy captive.
آنک نو دید او خریدار تو نیست ** صید حقست او گرفتار تو نیست
(But) wherever is a flock of blind birds, they will gather around thee, O brackish flood-water,
هر کجا باشند جوق مرغ کور ** بر تو جمع آیند ای سیلاب شور