The Sultan of (all) hearts is waiting expectantly for that Heart full of light and goodness.
از برای آن دل پر نور و بر ** هست آن سلطان دلها منتظر
Thou mayst wander (many) days in Sabzawár, (but) thou wilt not find (there) a Heart like that by (the most) careful observation.
تو بگردی روزها در سبزوار ** آنچنان دل را نیابی ز اعتبار
Then thou wilt lay upon a bier the corrupt heart, whose soul is rotten, to carry (it) Yonder,890
پس دل پژمرده‌ی پوسیده‌جان ** بر سر تخته نهی آن سو کشان
And say, “I bring Thee a heart, O King: there is no better heart than this in Sabzawár.”
که دل آوردم ترا ای شهریار ** به ازین دل نبود اندر سبزوار
He (God) will answer thee, saying, “O audacious man, is this a graveyard that thou shouldst bring a dead heart hither?
گویدت این گورخانه‌ست ای جری ** که دل مرده بدینجا آوری
Go, bring the Heart that is kingly, from which is (derived) the security of the Sabzawár of (mundane) existence.”
رو بیاور آن دلی کو شاه‌خوست ** که امان سبزوار کون ازوست
You may say that that Heart is hidden from this world, because darkness and light are opposites.
گویی آن دل زین جهان پنهان بود ** زانک ظلمت با ضیا ضدان بود
From the Day of Alast there is an hereditary enmity of that Heart to the Sabzawár of the carnal nature;895
دشمنی آن دل از روز الست ** سبزوار طبع را میراثی است
For it is a falcon, while this world is the city of the crow: the sight of one who is uncongenial inflicts pain upon him who is not his congener;
زانک او بازست و دنیا شهر زاغ ** دیدن ناجنس بر ناجنس داغ
And if he (the worldling) behave with mildness (complaisance), he is acting hypocritically: he is seeking an advantage for himself by conciliating (the owner of the Heart).
ور کند نرمی نفاقی می‌کند ** ز استمالت ارتفاقی می‌کند
He assents, not on account of sincere feeling, (but) in order that the admonisher may curtail his long admonition;
می‌کند آری نه از بهر نیاز ** تا که ناصح کم کند نصح دراز
For this vile carrion-seeking crow hath a hundred thousand manifold tricks.
زانک این زاغ خس مردارجو ** صد هزاران مکر دارد تو به تو
If they (the saints) accept his hypocrisy, he is saved: his hypocrisy becomes identical with the sincerity of him who benefits by instruction,900
گر پذیرند آن نفاقش را رهید ** شد نفاقش عین صدق مستفید
Because the august owner of the Heart is a buyer of damaged goods in our bazaar.
زانک آن صاحب دل با کر و فر ** هست در بازار ما معیوب‌خر
Seek the owner of the Heart, if thou art not soulless: become a congener of the Heart, if thou art not an adversary of the (spiritual) Sultan.
صاحب دل جو اگر بی‌جان نه‌ای ** جنس دل شو گر ضد سلطان نه‌ای
(But) that one whose hypocrisy pleases thee, he is (only) thy saint, (he is) not the elect of God.
آنک زرق او خوش آید مر ترا ** آن ولی تست نه خاص خدا
Whosoever lives in accordance with thy disposition and nature seems to thy (carnal) nature to be a saint and a prophet.
هر که او بر خو و بر طبع تو زیست ** پیش طبع تو ولی است و نبیست
Go, renounce sensuality in order that the (spiritual) scent may be thine and that the sweet ambergris-seeking organ of smell may be thine.905
رو هوا بگذار تا بویت شود ** وان مشام خوش عبرجویت شود
Thy brain (organ of smell) is corrupted by sensual indulgence: to thy (olfactory) sense musk and ambergris are unsalable.
از هوارانی دماغت فاسدست ** مشک و عنبر پیش مغزت کاسدست
This discourse hath no bound, and (meanwhile) our gazelle is running to and fro in flight in the stable.
حد ندارد این سخن و آهوی ما ** می‌گریزد اندر آخر جابجا
The remainder of the Story of the gazelle in the donkey-stable.
بقیه‌ی قصه‌ی آهو و آخر خران
During (many) days the sweet-navelled male gazelle was in torment in the donkey-stable,
روزها آن آهوی خوش‌ناف نر ** در شکنجه بود در اصطبل خر
Like a fish wriggling in the death-agony from (being kept on) dry ground, (or like) dung and musk tortured (by being kept) in the same box.
مضطرب در نزع چون ماهی ز خشک ** در یکی حقه معذب پشک و مشک
One donkey would say to his neighbour, “Ha! this wild fellow has the nature of kings and princes. Hush!”910
یک خرش گفتی که ها این بوالوحوش ** طبع شاهان دارد و میران خموش
And the other would mock, saying, “By (constant) ebb and flow he has gained a pearl: how should he sell cheaply?”
وآن دگر تسخر زدی کز جر و مد ** گوهر آوردست کی ارزان دهد
And another donkey would say, “With this fastidiousness (of his), let him recline on the imperial throne!”
وآن خری گفتی که با این نازکی ** بر سریر شاه شو گو متکی