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
O you who possess sincerity, (if) you want that (Reality) unveiled, choose death and tear off the veil—
بی‌حجابت باید آن ای ذو لباب ** مرگ را بگزین و بر دران حجاب
Not such a death that you will go into a grave, (but) a death consisting of (spiritual) transformation, so that you will go into a Light.
نه چنان مرگی که در گوری روی ** مرگ تبدیلی که در نوری روی
(When) a man grows up, his childhood dies; (when) he becomes a (fair-complexioned) Greek, he washes out the dye (swarthy colour) of the Ethiopian.740
مرد بالغ گشت آن بچگی بمرد ** رومیی شد صبغت زنگی سترد
(When) earth becomes gold, its earthly aspect remains not; (when) sorrow becomes joy, the thorn of sorrowfulness remains not.
خاک زر شد هیات خاکی نماند ** غم فرج شد خار غمناکی نماند
Hence Mustafá (Mohammed) said, “O seeker of the mysteries, (if) you wish to see a dead man living—
مصطفی زین گفت کای اسرارجو ** مرده را خواهی که بینی زنده تو
Walking on the earth, like living men; (yet he is) dead and his spirit is gone to heaven;
می‌رود چون زندگان بر خاکدان ** مرده و جانش شده بر آسمان
(One) whose spirit hath a dwelling-place on high at this moment, (so that) if he die, his spirit is not translated,
جانش را این دم به بالا مسکنیست ** گر بمیرد روح او را نقل نیست
Because it has been translated before death: this (mystery) is understood (only) by dying, not by (using one's) reason;745
زانک پیش از مرگ او کردست نقل ** این بمردن فهم آید نه به عقل
Translation it is, (but) not like the translation of the spirits of the vulgar: it resembles a removal (during life) from one place to another—
نقل باشد نه چو نقل جان عام ** هم‌چو نقلی از مقامی تا مقام