O cuckold, (if) you don't know, don't talk nonsense; and if you do know, play (a tune) to the purpose.
قلتبانا میندانی گه مخور ** ور همیدانی بزن مقصود بر
Tell of that which you know, O crazy fool: don't draw out (repeat continually) ‘I know not, I know not.’
آن بگو ای گیج که میدانیش ** میندانم میندانم در مکش
(Suppose) I ask, ‘Where do you come from, hypocrite, eh?’ you will say, ‘Not from Balkh, and not from Herát,715
من بپرسم کز کجایی هی مری ** تو بگویی نه ز بلخ و نه از هری
Not from Baghdád and not from Mosul and not from Tiráz’: you will draw out a long journey in (saying) ‘not’ and ‘not.’
نه ز بغداد و نه موصل نه طراز ** در کشی در نی و نی راه دراز
Just say where you come from and escape (from further discussion): in this case it is folly to elaborate the point at issue.
خود بگو من از کجاام باز ره ** هست تنقیح مناط اینجا بله
Or (suppose) I asked, ‘What had you for breakfast?’ you would say, ‘Not wine and not roast-meat,
یا بپرسیدم چه خوردی ناشتاب ** تو بگویی نه شراب و نه کباب
Not qadíd and not tharíd and not lentils’: tell me what you did eat, only (that) and no more.
نه قدید و نه ثرید و نه عدس ** آنچ خوردی آن بگو تنها و بس
Wherefore is this long palaver?” “Because,” said the minstrel, “my object is recondite.720
این سخنخایی دراز از بهر چیست ** گفت مطرب زانک مقصودم خفیست
Before (until) you deny (all else), affirmation (of God) evades (you): I denied (everything) in order that you might get a scent of (perceive the means of attaining to) affirmation.
میرمد اثبات پیش از نفی تو ** نفی کردم تا بری ز اثبات بو
I play the tune of negation: when you die, death will declare the mystery.
در نوا آرم بنفی این ساز را ** چون بمیری مرگ گوید راز را
[Commentary on his (the Prophet's) saying—peace be upon him!— ‘Die before ye die.’ ‘O friend, die before thy death if thou desirest life; for by so dying Idrís became a dweller in Paradise before (the rest of) us.’]
تفسیر قوله علیهالسلام موتوا قبل ان تموتوا بمیر ای دوست پیش از مرگ اگر می زندگی خواهی کی ادریس از چنین مردن بهشتی گشت پیش از ما
You have suffered much agony, but you are (still) in the veil, because dying (to self) was the fundamental principle, and you have not fulfilled it.
جان بسی کندی و اندر پردهای ** زانک مردن اصل بد ناوردهای
Your agony is not finished till you die: you cannot reach the roof without completing the ladder.
تا نمیری نیست جان کندن تمام ** بیکمال نردبان نایی به بام
When two rungs out of a hundred are wanting, the striver will be forbidden to (set foot on) the roof.725
چون ز صد پایه دو پایه کم بود ** بام را کوشنده نامحرم بود
When the rope lacks one ell out of a hundred, how should the water go from the well into the bucket?
چون رسن یک گز ز صد گز کم بود ** آب اندر دلو از چه کی رود
O Amír, you will not experience the wreck of this ship (of self-existence) till you put into it the last mann.
غرق این کشتی نیابی ای امیر ** تا بننهی اندرو من الاخیر
Know that the last mann is fundamental, for it is (like) the (piercing) star that rises at night: it wrecks the ship of evil suggestion and error.
من آخر اصل دان کو طارقست ** کشتی وسواس و غی را غارقست
The ship of (self-)consciousness, when it is utterly wrecked, becomes (like) the sun in the blue vault (of heaven).
آفتاب گنبد ازرق شود ** کشتی هش چونک مستغرق شود
Inasmuch as you have not died, your agony has been prolonged: be extinguished in the dawn, O candle of Tiráz!730
چون نمردی گشت جان کندن دراز ** مات شو در صبح ای شمع طراز
Know that the Sun of the world is hidden till our stars have become hidden.
تا نگشتند اختران ما نهان ** دانک پنهانست خورشید جهان
Wield the mace against yourself: shatter egoism to pieces, for the bodily eye is (as) cottonwool in the ear.
گرز بر خود زن منی در هم شکن ** زانک پنبهی گوش آمد چشم تن
You are wielding the mace against yourself, O base man: this egoism is the reflexion of yourself in (the mirror of) my actions.
گرز بر خود میزنی خود ای دنی ** عکس تست اندر فعالم این منی
You have seen the reflexion of yourself in (the mirror of) my form and have risen in fury to fight with yourself,
عکس خود در صورت من دیدهای ** در قتال خویش بر جوشیدهای
Like the lion who went down into the well; (for) he fancied that the reflexion of himself was his enemy.”735
همچو آن شیری که در چه شد فرو ** عکس خود را خصم خود پنداشت او
Beyond any doubt, negation (not-being) is the opposite of (real) being, (and this is) in order that by means of the (one) opposite you may gain a little knowledge of the (other) opposite.
نفی ضد هست باشد بیشکی ** تا ز ضد ضد را بدانی اندکی
At this time there is no (means of) making (God) known except (by) denying the opposite: in this (earthly) life no moment is without a snare.
این زمان جز نفی ضد اعلام نیست ** اندرین نشات دمی بیدام نیست