- The (lost) sheep was enfeebled and exhausted by fatigue: then God's Kalím shook the dust off it,
- گوسفند از ماندگی شد سست و ماند ** پس کلیم الله گرد از وی فشاند
- And stroked its back and head with his hand, fondling it lovingly like a mother.
- کف همیمالید بر پشت و سرش ** مینواخت از مهر همچون مادرش
- Not (even) half a mite of irritation and anger, nothing but love and pity and tears! 3285
- نیم ذره طیرگی و خشم نی ** غیر مهر و رحم و آب چشم نی
- He said (to the sheep), “I grant you (naturally) had no pity on me, (but) why did your nature show (such) cruelty to itself?”
- گفت گیرم بر منت رحمی نبود ** طبع تو بر خود چرا استم نمود
- At that moment God said to the angels, “So-and-so is suitable for prophethood.”
- با ملایک گفت یزدان آن زمان ** که نبوت را نمیزیبد فلان
- Mustafá (Mohammed) himself has said that every prophet herded sheep as a young man or boy,
- مصطفی فرمود خود که هر نبی ** کرد چوپانیش برنا یا صبی
- (And that) without his having been a shepherd and (having undergone) that trial, God did not bestow on him the leadership of the world.
- بیشبانی کردن و آن امتحان ** حق ندادش پیشوایی جهان
- A questioner said, “Even thou, O man of might?” “I too,” he replied, “was a shepherd for a long while.” 3290
- گفت سایل هم تو نیز ای پهلوان ** گفت من هم بودهام دهری شبان
- In order that their (the prophets') calmness and fortitude should be displayed, God made them shepherds before (investing them with) prophethood.
- تا شود پیدا وقار و صبرشان ** کردشان پیش از نبوت حق شبان
- Every prince who performs the task of shepherding mankind in such wise that he obeys the Commandments (of God),
- هر امیری کو شبانی بشر ** آنچنان آرد که باشد متمر
- (And) in tending them with foresight and understanding shows a forbearance like that of Moses,
- حلم موسیوار اندر رعی خود ** او به جا آرد به تدبیر و خرد
- Inevitably God will bestow on him a spiritual shepherd's office (exalted) above the sphere of the moon,
- لاجرم حقش دهد چوپانیی ** بر فراز چرخ مه روحانیی
- Even as He raised the prophets from this herding (of sheep) and gave them the task of tending the righteous. 3295
- آنچنان که انبیا را زین رعا ** بر کشید و داد رعی اصفیا
- “Thou, in short, O Khwája, hast performed in thy shepherding (of the poor) that which causes him that hates thee to become blind (utterly confounded).
- خواجه باری تو درین چوپانیت ** کردی آنچ کور گردد شانیت
- I know that God will give thee yonder an everlasting sovereignty in compensation.
- دانم آنجا در مکافات ایزدت ** سروری جاودانه بخشدت
- In hope of thy (open) hand as (bountiful as) the ocean and (in reliance) upon thy giving (me) a stipend and discharging (my obligations) in full,
- بر امید کف چون دریای تو ** بر وظیفه دادن و ایفای تو
- I recklessly incurred debts (amounting to) nine thousand pieces of gold: where art thou, that these dregs may become clear?
- وام کردم نه هزار از زر گزاف ** تو کجایی تا شود این درد صاف
- Where art thou, that laughing like the (verdant) garden thou mayst say, ‘Receive that (sum) and ten times as much from me’? 3300
- تو کجایی تا که خندان چون چمن ** گویی بستان آن و ده چندان ز من
- Where art thou, that thou mayst make me laughing (flourishing) and show favour and beneficence as lords (are wont to do)?
- تو کجایی تا مرا خندان کنی ** لطف و احسان چون خداوندان کنی
- Where art thou, that thou mayst take me into thy treasury and make me secure from debt and poverty?—
- تو کجایی تا بری در مخزنم ** تا کنی از وام و فاقه آمنم
- (Whilst) I am saying continually, ‘Enough!’ and thou, my bounteous friend, replying, ‘Accept this too for my heart's sake.’
- من همیگویم بس و تو مفضلم ** گفته کین هم گیر از بهر دلم
- How can a world (microcosm) be contained under the clay (of the body)? How should a Heaven be contained in the earth?
- چون همیگنجد جهانی زیر طین ** چون بگنجد آسمانی در زمین
- God forfend! Thou art beyond this world both in thy lifetime and at the present hour. 3305
- حاش لله تو برونی زین جهان ** هم به وقت زندگی هم این زمان
- A bird is flying in the atmosphere of the Unseen: its shadow falls on a piece of earth.
- در هوای غیب مرغی میپرد ** سایهی او بر زمینی میزند
- The body is the shadow of the shadow of the shadow of the heart: how is the body worthy of the (lofty) rank of the heart?
- جسم سایهی سایهی سایهی دلست ** جسم کی اندر خور پایهی دلست