You (the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk) drag in the ox in order to cheat (me): begone, God does not stick the horns of an ox upon a horse.”
پای گاو اندر میان آری ز داو ** رو ندوزد حق بر اسپی شاخ گاو
This renowned Master-builder observes great congruity in His workmanship: how should He attach to a horse's body part of (the body of) an ox?
بس مناسب صنعتست این شهره زاو ** کی نهد بر جسم اسپ او عضو گاو
The Master-builder has made (all) bodies congruously: He has constructed moving palaces,
زاو ابدان را مناسب ساخته ** قصرهای منتقل پرداخته
(With) balconies in them and cisterns (distributing water) from this (part of the palace) to that;
در میان قصرها تخریجها ** از سوی این سوی آن صهریجها
And within them an infinite world: all this (vast) expanse (is contained) in a single tent.3510
وز درونشان عالمی بیمنتها ** در میان خرگهی چندین فضا
Now He causes (one beautiful as) the moon to seem like an incubus (nightmare), now He causes the bottom of a well to have the semblance of a garden.
گه چو کابوسی نماید ماه را ** گه نماید روضه قعر چاه را
Inasmuch as the closing and opening of the eye of the heart by the Almighty is continually working lawful magic,
قبض و بسط چشم دل از ذوالجلال ** دم به دم چون میکند سحر حلال
For this reason Mustafá (Mohammed) entreated God, saying, “Let the false appear as false and the true as true,
زین سبب درخواست از حق مصطفی ** زشت را هم زشت و حق را حقنما
So that at last, when Thou turnest the leaf, I may not (be stricken) by sorrow (and) fall into agitation.”
تا به آخر چون بگردانی ورق ** از پشیمانی نه افتم در قلق
(’Twas) the Lord of the Kingdom (that) guided the peerless ‘Imádu ’l- Mulk to the deception which he practised.3515
مکر که کرد آن عماد الملک فرد ** مالک الملکش بدان ارشاد کرد
God's deception is the fountainhead of (all) these deceptions: the heart is between the two fingers of the (Divine) Majesty.
مکر حق سرچشمهی این مکرهاست ** قلب بین اصبعین کبریاست
He who creates deception and (false) analogy in your heart can (also) set the sackcloth (of deception) on fire.
آنک سازد در دلت مکر و قیاس ** آتشی داند زدن اندر پلاس
Return to the Story of the bailiff and the poor debtor: how they turned back from the Khwája's grave, and how the bailiff saw the Khwája in a dream, etc.
رجوع کردن به قصهی آن پایمرد و آن غریب وامدار و بازگشتن ایشان از سر گور خواجه و خواب دیدن پایمرد خواجه را الی آخره
This goodly episode is endless (too long to relate in full). When the poor stranger turned back from the Khwája's grave,
بینهایت آمد این خوش سرگذشت ** چون غریب از گور خواجه باز گشت
The bailiff took him to his house and handed over to him the purse of a hundred dinars.
پای مردش سوی خانهی خویش برد ** مهر صد دینار را فا او سپرد
He fetched viands for him and told him stories, so that from the (feeling of) hope (with which the bailiff inspired him) a hundred roses blossomed in his heart.3520
لوتش آورد و حکایتهاش گفت ** کز امید اندر دلش صد گل شکفت
He (the bailiff) opened his lips to relate the ease (prosperity) which he had experienced after difficulty (adversity).
آنچ بعد العسر یسر او دیده بود ** با غریب از قصهی آن لب گشود
Midnight passed, and (he was still) narrating: (then) sleep transported them to the meadow where the spirit feeds.
نیمشب بگذشت و افسانه کنان ** خوابشان انداخت تا مرعای جان
On that night the bailiff dreamed that he saw the blessed Khwája (seated) on the high-seat in the (heavenly) palace.
دید پامرد آن همایون خواجه را ** اندر آن شب خواب بر صدر سرا
The Khwája said, “O excellent bailiff, I have heard what you said, point by point,
خواجه گفت ای پایمرد با نمک ** آنچ گفتی من شنیدم یک به یک
But I was not commanded to answer, and I durst not open my lips without being directed.3525
Now that we have become acquainted with the conditions and degrees (of the spiritual world), a seal has been laid upon our lips,
ما چو واقف گشتهایم از چون و چند ** مهر با لبهای ما بنهادهاند
Lest the mysteries of the Unseen should be divulged and (thereby) the life and livelihood (of mortals) be destroyed,
تا نگردد رازهای غیب فاش ** تا نگردد منهدم عیش و معاش
And lest the veil of forgetfulness should be entirely rent and (the meat in) the pot of tribulation be left half-raw.
تا ندرد پردهی غفلت تمام ** تا نماند دیگ محنت نیمخام
We are all ear, (though) the (material) form of the ear has become deaf: we are all speech, but our lips are silent.
ما همه گوشیم کر شد نقش گوش ** ما همه نطقیم لیکن لب خموش
We now see (the result of) everything that we gave (during our life in the world): this (material) world is the veil, and that (spiritual) world is the vision.3530
هر چه ما دادیم دیدیم این زمان ** این جهان پردهست و عینست آن جهان