When thou art (made) sweet by sugar, it may be that at some time that sugar will vanish from thee;
چون تو شیرین از شکر باشی بود ** کان شکر گاهی ز تو غایب شود
(But) when thou becomest sugar from the effect produced by faithfulness, then how should sugar be parted from sugar?1980
چون شکر گردی ز تاثیر وفا ** پس شکر کی از شکر باشد جدا
When the lover (of God) is fed from (within) himself with pure wine, there reason becomes lost, lost, O comrade.
عاشق از خود چون غذا یابد رحیق ** عقل آن جا گم شود گم ای رفیق
Partial (discursive) reason is a denier of Love, though it may give out that it is a confidant.
عقل جزوی عشق را منکر بود ** گر چه بنماید که صاحب سر بود
It is clever and knowing, but it is not naught (devoid of self-existence): until the angel has become naught, he is an Ahriman (Devil).
زیرک و داناست اما نیست نیست ** تا فرشته لا نشد اهریمنی است
It (partial reason) is our friend in word and deed, (but) when you come to the case of inward feeling (ecstasy), it is naught (of no account).
او به قول و فعل یار ما بود ** چون به حکم حال آیی لا بود
It is naught because it did not (pass away) from existence and become nonexistent: since it did not become naught willingly, (it must become naught nevertheless, for) there is many a one (who became naught, i.e. died) unwillingly.1985
لا بود چون او نشد از هست نیست ** چون که طوعا لا نشد کرها بسی است
The Spirit is perfection and its call is perfection: Mustafá (Mohammed) used to say, “Refresh us, O Bilál!
جان کمال است و ندای او کمال ** مصطفی گویان ارحنا یا بلال
O Bilál, lift up thy mellifluous voice (drawn) from that breath which I breathed into thy heart,
ای بلال افراز بانگ سلسلت ** ز آن دمی کاندر دمیدم در دلت
From that breath by which Adam was dumbfounded and the wits of the people of Heaven were made witless.”
ز آن دمی کادم از آن مدهوش گشت ** هوش اهل آسمان بی‌‌هوش گشت
Mustafá became beside himself at that beautiful voice: his prayer escaped him (was left unperformed) on the night of the ta‘rís.
مصطفی بی‌‌خویش شد ز آن خوب صوت ** شد نمازش از شب تعریس فوت
He did not raise his head from that blessed sleep until the (time of the) dawn prayer had advanced to (the time of) forenoon.1990
سر از آن خواب مبارک بر نداشت ** تا نماز صبحدم آمد به چاشت
On the night of the ta‘rís his holy spirit gained (the privilege of) kissing hands in the presence of the Bride.
در شب تعریس پیش آن عروس ** یافت جان پاک ایشان دستبوس
Love and the Spirit are, both of them, hidden and veiled: if I have called Him (God) the Bride, do not find fault.
عشق و جان هر دو نهانند و ستیر ** گر عروسش خوانده‌‌ام عیبی مگیر
I would have been silent from (fear of) the Beloved's displeasure, if He had granted me a respite for one moment,
از ملولی یار خامش کردمی ** گر همو مهلت بدادی یک دمی
But He keeps saying, “Say on! Come, ’tis no fault, ’tis but the requirement of the (Divine) destiny in the World Unseen.”
The fault is (in him) who sees nothing but fault: how should the Pure Spirit of the Invisible see fault?1995
عیب باشد کاو نبیند جز که عیب ** عیب کی بیند روان پاک غیب
Fault arises (only) in relation to the ignorant creature, not in relation to the Lord of favour (clemency).
عیب شد نسبت به مخلوق جهول ** نی به نسبت با خداوند قبول
Infidelity, too, is wisdom in relation to the Creator, (but) when you impute it to us, infidelity is a noxious thing.
کفر هم نسبت به خالق حکمت است ** چون به ما نسبت کنی کفر آفت است
And if there be one fault together with a hundred advantages (excellences), it resembles the wood (woody stalk) in the sugarcane.
ور یکی عیبی بود با صد حیات ** بر مثال چوب باشد در نبات
Both (sugar and stalk) alike are put into the scales, because they both are sweet like body and soul.
در ترازو هر دو را یکسان کشند ** ز آن که آن هر دو چو جسم و جان خوشند
Not idly, therefore, the great (mystics) said this: “The body of the holy ones (the saints) is essentially pure as (their) spirit.”2000
پس بزرگان این نگفتند از گزاف ** جسم پاکان عین جان افتاد صاف
Their speech and soul and form, all (this) is absolute spirit without (external) trace.
گفتشان و نفسشان و نقششان ** جمله جان مطلق آمد بی‌‌نشان
The spirit that regards them with enmity is a mere body; like the plus in (the game called) nard, it is a mere name.
جان دشمن دارشان جسم است صرف ** چون زیاد از نرد او اسم است صرف
That one (the body of the enemy of the saints) went into the earth (grave) and became earth entirely; this (holy body) went into the salt and became entirely pure—
آن به خاک اندر شد و کل خاک شد ** وین نمک اندر شد و کل پاک شد
The (spiritual) salt through which Mohammed is more refined (than all others): he is more eloquent than that salt-seasoned (elegantly expressed) Hadíth.
آن نمک کز وی محمد املح است ** ز آن حدیث با نمک او افصح است
This salt is surviving in his heritage: those heirs of his are with thee. Seek them!2005
این نمک باقی است از میراث او ** با تواند آن وارثان او بجو
He (the spiritual heir of Mohammed) is seated in front of thee, (but) where indeed is thy “front”? He is before thee, (but) where is the soul that thinks “before”?
پیش تو شسته ترا خود پیش کو ** پیش هستت جان پیش اندیش کو
If thou fancy thou hast a “before” and “behind,” thou art tied to body and deprived of spirit.
گر تو خود را پیش و پس داری گمان ** بسته‌‌ی جسمی و محرومی ز جان
“Below” and “above,” “before” and “behind” are attributes of the body: the essence of the bright spirit is without relations (not limited by relations of place).
زیر و بالا پیش و پس وصف تن است ** بی‌‌جهت آن ذات جان روشن است
Open thy (inward) vision with the pure light of the King. Beware of fancying, like one who is short-sighted,
بر گشا از نور پاک شه نظر ** تا نپنداری تو چون کوته نظر
That thou art only this very (body living) in grief and joy. O (thou who art really) non-existence, where (are) “before” and “behind” (appertaining) to non-existence?2010
که همینی در غم و شادی و بس ** ای عدم کو مر عدم را پیش و پس
’Tis a day of rain: journey on till night—not (sped) by this (earthly) rain but by the rain of the Lord.
روز باران است می‌‌رو تا به شب ** نی از این باران از آن باران رب
The story of ‘Á’isha, may God be well-pleased with her, how she asked Mustafá (Mohammed), on whom be peace, saying, “It rained to-day: since thou wentest to the graveyard, how is it that thy clothes are not wet?”
قصه‌‌ی سؤال کردن عایشه از مصطفی علیه السلام که امروز باران بارید چون تو سوی گورستان رفتی جامه‌‌های تو چون تر نیست
One day Mustafá went to the graveyard: he went with the bier of a man (who was one) of his friends.
مصطفی روزی به گورستان برفت ** با جنازه‌‌ی مردی از یاران برفت
He made the earth so that it filled his grave: he quickened his seed under the earth.
خاک را در گور او آگنده کرد ** زیر خاک آن دانه‌‌اش را زنده کرد
These trees are like the interred ones: they have lifted up their hands from the earth.
این درختانند همچون خاکیان ** دستها بر کرده‌‌اند از خاکدان
They are making a hundred signs to the people and speaking plainly to him that hath ears (to hear).2015
سوی خلقان صد اشارت می‌‌کنند ** و آن که گوش استش عبارت می‌‌کنند
With green tongue and with long hand (fingers) they are telling secrets from the earth's conscience (inmost heart).
با زبان سبز و با دست دراز ** از ضمیر خاک می‌‌گویند راز
(Sunk in earth) like ducks that have plunged their heads in water, they have become (gay as) peacocks, though (in winter) they were (dark and bare) as crows.
همچو بطان سر فرو برده به آب ** گشته طاوسان و بوده چون غراب
If during the winter He imprisoned them (in ice and snow), God made those “crows” “peacocks” (in spring).
در زمستانشان اگر محبوس کرد ** آن غرابان را خدا طاوس کرد
Although He put them to death in winter, He revived them by means of spring and gave (them) leaves.
در زمستانشان اگر چه داد مرگ ** زنده‌‌شان کرد از بهار و داد برگ
The sceptics say, “This (creation), surely, is eternal: why should we fix it on a beneficent Lord?”2020
منکران گویند خود هست این قدیم ** این چرا بندیم بر رب کریم
God, in despite of them, caused (spiritual) gardens and plots of sweet flowers to grow in the hearts of His friends.
کوری ایشان درون دوستان ** حق برویانید باغ و بوستان
Every rose that is sweet-scented within, that rose is telling of the secrets of the rose.
هر گلی کاندر درون بویا بود ** آن گل از اسرار کل گویا بود
Their scent, to the confusion of the sceptics, is going round the world, rending the veil (of doubt and disbelief).
بوی ایشان رغم انف منکران ** گرد عالم می‌‌رود پرده دران
The sceptics, (shrinking) from the scent of the rose like a beetle, or like a delicate (sensitive) brain at the noise of the drum,
منکران همچون جعل ز آن بوی گل ** یا چو نازک مغز در بانگ دهل
Feign themselves to be occupied and absorbed, and withdraw their eyes from the flash of the lightning.2025