Wings carry falcons to the king; wings carry crows to the graveyard.
بال بازان را سوی سلطان برد ** بال زاغان را به گورستان برد
Now return to the description of non-existence, for it (non-existence) is like bezoar, though you think it is poison.1445
باز گرد اکنون تو در شرح عدم ** که چو پازهرست و پنداریش سم
Hark, O fellow-servant, go and, like the Hindú boy, be not afraid of the Mahmúd of non-existence.
همچو هندوبچه هین ای خواجهتاش ** رو ز محمود عدم ترسان مباش
Be afraid of the existence in which you are now: that phantasy of yours is nothing and you (yourself) are nothing.
از وجودی ترس که اکنون در ویی ** آن خیالت لاشی و تو لا شیی
One nothing has fallen in love with another nothing: has any naught ever waylaid (and attacked) any other naught?
لاشیی بر لاشیی عاشق شدست ** هیچ نی مر هیچ نی را ره زدست
When these phantasies have departed from before you, that which your understanding hath not conceived becomes clear to you.
چون برون شد این خیالات از میان ** گشت نامعقول تو بر تو عیان
Those who have passed away do not grieve on account of death; their only regret is to have missed the opportunities (of life).
لیس للماضین هم الموت انما لهم حسره الموت
That captain of mankind has said truly that no one who has passed away from this world1450
راست گفتست آن سپهدار بشر ** که هر آنک کرد از دنیا گذر
Feels sorrow and regret and disappointment on account of death; nay, but he feels a hundred regrets for having missed the opportunity,
نیستش درد و دریغ و غبن موت ** بلک هستش صد دریغ از بهر فوت
Saying (to himself), “Why did not I make death my object —(death, which is) the store-house of every fortune and every provision—
که چرا قبله نکردم مرگ را ** مخزن هر دولت و هر برگ را
(And why), through seeing double, did I make the lifelong object of my attention those phantoms that vanished at the fated hour?”
قبله کردم من همه عمر از حول ** آن خیالاتی که گم شد در اجل
The grief of the dead is not on account of death; it is because (so they say) “we dwelt upon the (phenomenal) forms,
حسرت آن مردگان از مرگ نیست ** زانست کاندر نقشها کردیم ایست
And this we did not perceive, that those are (mere) form and foam, (and that) the foam is moved and fed by the Sea.”1455
ما ندیدیم این که آن نقش است و کف ** کف ز دریا جنبد و یابد علف
When the Sea has cast the foam-flakes on the shore, go to the graveyard and behold those flakes of foam!
چونک بحر افکند کفها را به بر ** تو بگورستان رو آن کفها نگر
Then say (to them), “Where is your movement and gyration (now)? The Sea has cast you into the crisis (of a deadly malady)”—
پس بگو کو جنبش و جولانتان ** بحر افکندست در بحرانتان
In order that they may say to you, not with their lips but implicitly, “Ask this question of the Sea, not of us.”
تا بگویندت به لب نی بل به حال ** که ز دریا کن نه از ما این سال
How should the foam-like (phenomenal) form move without the wave? How should the dust rise to the zenith without a wind?
نقش چون کف کی بجنبد بی ز موج ** خاک بی بادی کجا آید بر اوج
Since you have perceived the dust, namely, the form, perceive the wind; since you have perceived the foam, perceive the ocean of Creative Energy.1460
چون غبار نقش دیدی باد بین ** کف چو دیدی قلزم ایجاد بین
Come, perceive (it), for insight (is the only thing) in you (that) avails: the rest of you is a piece of fat and flesh, a weft and warp (of bones, muscles, etc.).
هین ببین کز تو نظر آید به کار ** باقیت شحمی و لحمی پود و تار
Your fat never increased the light in candles, your flesh never became roast-meat for any one drunken with (spiritual) wine.
شحم تو در شمعها نفزود تاب ** لحم تو مخمور را نامد کباب
Dissolve the whole of this body of yours in vision: pass into sight, pass into sight, into sight!
در گداز این جمله تن را در بصر ** در نظر رو در نظر رو در نظر
One sight perceives (only) two yards of the road; another sight has beheld the two worlds and the Face of the King.
یک نظر دو گز همیبیند ز راه ** یک نظر دو کون دید و روی شاه
Between these twain there is an incalculable difference: seek the collyrium—and God best knoweth the things occult.1465
در میان این دو فرقی بیشمار ** سرمه جو والله اعلم بالسرار
Since you have heard the description of the sea of non-existence, continually endeavour to stand (depend) upon this sea.
چون شنیدی شرح بحر نیستی ** کوش دایم تا برین بحر ایستی
Inasmuch as the foundation of the workshop is that non-existence which is void and traceless and empty,
چونک اصل کارگاه آن نیستیست ** که خلا و بینشانست و تهیست
(And inasmuch as) all master-craftsmen seek non-existence and a place of breakage for the purpose of exhibiting their skill,
جمله استادان پی اظهار کار ** نیستی جویند و جای انکسار