How should he that is in love with his own imagination and conception be one of them that love the Lord of bounties?
عاشق تصویر و وهم خویشتن ** کی بود از عاشقان ذو المنن
If the lover of that (false) conception be sincere, that metaphor (unreal judgement) will lead him to the reality.2760
عاشق آن وهم اگر صادق بود ** آن مجاز او حقیقت کش شود
The exposition of this saying demands a commentary, but I am afraid of senile (feeble) minds.
شرح میخواهد بیان این سخن ** لیک میترسم ز افهام کهن
Senile and short-sighted minds bring a hundred evil fancies into their thoughts.
فهمهای کهنهی کوته نظر ** صد خیال بد در آرد در فکر
Not every one is able to hear rightly: the fig is not a morsel for every little bird,
بر سماع راست هر کس چیر نیست ** لقمهی هر مرغکی انجیر نیست
Especially a bird that is dead, putrid; a blind, eyeless (fellow) filled with vain fancy.
خاصه مرغی مردهای پوسیدهای ** پر خیالی اعمیی بیدیدهای
To the picture of a fish what is the difference between sea and land? To the colour of a Hindoo what is the difference between soap and black vitriol?2765
نقش ماهی را چه دریا و چه خاک ** رنگ هندو را چه صابون و چه زاک
If you depict the portrait on the paper as sorrowful, it has no lesson (learns nothing) of sorrow or joy.
نقش اگر غمگین نگاری بر ورق ** او ندارد از غم و شادی سبق
Its appearance is sorrowful, but it is free from that (sorrow); (or) its appearance is smiling, but it has no (inward) impression of that (joy).
صورتش غمگین و او فارغ از آن ** صورتش خندان و او ز آن بینشان
And this (worldly) sorrow and joy which are a lot (received) in the heart (which befall the heart) are naught but a picture in comparison with that (spiritual) joy and sorrow.
وین غم و شادی که اندر دل خفی است ** پیش آن شادی و غم جز نقش نیست
The picture's smiling appearance is for your sake, in order that by means of that picture the reality may be established (rightly understood by you).
صورت خندان نقش از بهر تست ** تا از آن صورت شود معنی درست
The pictures (phenomena) which are in these hot baths (the world), (when viewed) from outside the undressing-room (of self-abandonment), are like clothes.2770
نقشهایی کاندر این حمامهاست ** از برون جامه کن چون جامهاست
So long as you are outside, you see only the clothes (phenomena): put off your clothes and enter (the bath of reality), O kindred spirit,
تا برونی جامهها بینی و بس ** جامه بیرون کن در آ ای هم نفس
Because, with your clothes, there is no way (of getting) inside: the body is ignorant of the soul, the clothes (are ignorant) of the body.
ز آن که با جامه درون سو راه نیست ** تن ز جان جامه ز تن آگاه نیست
How the Caliph's officers and chamberlains came forward to pay their respects to the Bedouin and to receive his gift.
پیش آمدن نقیبان و دربانان خلیفه از بهر اکرام اعرابی و پذیرفتن هدیهی او را
When the Bedouin arrived from the remote desert to the gate of the Caliph's palace,
آن عرابی از بیابان بعید ** بر در دار الخلافه چون رسید
The court officers went to meet him: they sprinkled much rose-water of graciousness on his bosom.
پس نقیبان پیش او باز آمدند ** بس گلاب لطف بر جیبش زدند
Without speech (on his part) they perceived what he wanted: it was their practice to give before being asked.2775
حاجت او فهمشان شد بیمقال ** کار ایشان بد عطا پیش از سؤال
Then they said to him, “O chief of the Arabs, whence dost thou come? How art thou after the journey and fatigue?”
پس بدو گفتند یا وجه العرب ** از کجایی چونی از راه و تعب
He said, “I am a chief, if ye give me any countenance (favour); I am without means (of winning respect) when ye put me behind your backs.
گفت وجهم گر مرا وجهی دهید ** بیوجوهم چون پس پشتم نهید
O ye in whose faces are the marks of eminence, O ye whose splendour is more pleasing than the gold of Ja‘far,
ای که در روتان نشان مهتری ** فرتان خوشتر ز زر جعفری
O ye, one sight of whom is (worth many) sights, O ye on whose religion pieces of gold are scattered (as largesse),
ای که یک دیدارتان دیدارها ** ای نثار دینتان دینارها
O ye, all of whom have become seeing by the light of God, who have come from the King for the sake of munificence,2780
ای همه ینظر بنور الله شده ** از بر حق بهر بخشش آمده
That ye may cast the elixir of your looks upon the copper of human individuals,
تا زنید آن کیمیاهای نظر ** بر سر مسهای اشخاص بشر
I am a stranger: I have come from the desert: I have come in hope of (gaining) the grace of the Sultan.
من غریبم از بیابان آمدم ** بر امید لطف سلطان آمدم
The scent of his grace covered (took entire possession of) the deserts: even the grains of sand were ensouled (thereby).
بوی لطف او بیابانها گرفت ** ذرههای ریگ هم جانها گرفت
I came all the way to this place for the sake of dinars: as soon as I arrived, I became drunken with sight (contemplation).”
تا بدین جا بهر دینار آمدم ** چون رسیدم مست دیدار آمدم
A person ran to the baker for bread: on seeing the beauty of the baker, he gave up the ghost.2785
بهر نان شخصی سوی نانوا دوید ** داد جان چون حسن نانوا را بدید
A certain man went to the rose-garden to take his pleasure, and found it in the beauty of the gardener,
بهر فرجه شد یکی تا گلستان ** فرجهی او شد جمال باغبان
Like the desert Arab who drew water from the well and tasted the Water of Life from the (lovely) face of Joseph.
همچو اعرابی که آب از چه کشید ** آب حیوان از رخ یوسف چشید
Moses went to fetch fire: he beheld such a Fire (the Burning Bush) that he escaped from (searching after) fire.
رفت موسی کاتش آرد او به دست ** آتشی دید او که از آتش برست
Jesus sprang up, to escape from his enemies: that spring carried him to the Fourth Heaven.
جست عیسی تا رهد از دشمنان ** بردش آن جستن به چارم آسمان
The ear of wheat became a trap for Adam, so that his existence became the wheat-ear (seed and origin) of mankind.2790
دام آدم خوشهی گندم شده ** تا وجودش خوشهی مردم شده
The falcon comes to the snare for food: it finds the fore-arm (wrist) of the King and fortune and glory.
باز آید سوی دام از بهر خور ** ساعد شه یابد و اقبال و فر
The child went to school to acquire knowledge, in hope of (getting) its father's pretty bird (as a prize);
طفل شد مکتب پی کسب هنر ** بر امید مرغ با لطف پدر
Then, by (going to) school, that child rose to the top, paid monthly fees (to his teacher), and became perfect (in knowledge).
پس ز مکتب آن یکی صدری شده ** ماهگانه داده و بدری شده
‘Abbás had come to war for vengeance’ sake, for the purpose of subduing Ahmad (Mohammed) and opposing the (true) religion:
آمده عباس حرب از بهر کین ** بهر قمع احمد و استیز دین
He and his descendants in the Caliphate became a back and front (complete support) to the (true) religion until the Resurrection.2795
گشته دین را تا قیامت پشت و رو ** در خلافت او و فرزندان او
“I came to this court in quest of wealth: as soon as I entered the portico I became (a spiritual) chief.
من بر این در طالب چیز آمدم ** صدر گشتم چون به دهلیز آمدم
I brought water as a gift for the sake of (getting) bread: hope of bread led me to the highest place in Paradise.
آب آوردم به تحفه بهر نان ** بوی نانم برد تا صدر جنان
Bread drove an Adam forth from Paradise: bread caused me to mix (made me consort) with those who belong to Paradise.
نان برون راند آدمی را از بهشت ** نان مرا اندر بهشتی در سرشت
I have been freed, like the angels, from water and bread (materiality): without (any worldly) object of desire I move round this court, like the (revolving) sphere of heaven.”
رستم از آب و ز نان همچون ملک ** بیغرض گردم بر این در چون فلک
Nothing in the world is without object (disinterested) in its movement (activity) except the bodies and the souls of (God's) lovers.2800
بیغرض نبود به گردش در جهان ** غیر جسم و غیر جان عاشقان
Showing that the lover of this world is like the lover of a wall on which the sunbeams strike, who makes no effort and exertion to perceive that the radiance and splendour do not proceed from the wall, but from the orb of the sun in the Fourth Heaven; consequently he sets his whole heart on the wall, and when the sunbeams rejoin the sun (at sunset), he is left for ever in despair: “and a bar is placed between them and that which they desire.”
در بیان آن که عاشق دنیا بر مثال عاشق دیواری است که بر او تاب آفتاب زند و جهد و جهاد نکرد تا فهم کند که آن تاب و رونق از دیوار نیست از قرص آفتاب است در آسمان چهارم لاجرم کلی دل بر دیوار نهاد چون پرتو آفتاب به آفتاب پیوست او محروم ماند ابدا و حیل بينهم و بين ما يشتهون
The lovers of the Whole are not those who love the part: he that longed for the part failed to attain unto the Whole.
عاشقان کل نه این عشاق جزو ** ماند از کل آن که شد مشتاق جزو
When a part falls in love with a part, the object of its love soon goes (returns) to its own whole.
چون که جزوی عاشق جزوی شود ** زود معشوقش به کل خود رود
He (the lover of the particular) became the laughing-stock of another's slave: he became (like a man who was) drowning and clung to some one weak (and powerless to help him).
ریش گاو بندهی غیر آمد او ** غرقه شد کف در ضعیفی در زد او
He (the loved slave) possesses no authority, that he should care for him: shall he do his own master's business or his (the lover's)?
نیست حاکم تا کند تیمار او ** کار خواجهی خود کند یا کار او
The Arabic proverb, “If you commit fornication, commit it with a free woman, and if you steal, steal a pearl.”
مثل عرب إذا زنیت فازن بالحرة و إذا سرقت فاسرق الدرة
Hence (the saying), “Commit fornication with a free woman,” became proverbial; (and the words) “steal a pearl” were transferred (metaphorically) to this (meaning).2805
فازن بالحرة پی این شد مثل ** فاسرق الدرة بدین شد منتقل
The slave (the loved one) went away to his master: he (the lover) was left in misery. The scent of the rose went (back) to the rose: he remained as the thorn.
بنده سوی خواجه شد او ماند زار ** بوی گل شد سوی گل او ماند خار
He was left far from the object of his desire—his labour lost, his toil useless, his foot wounded,
او بمانده دور از مطلوب خویش ** سعی ضایع رنج باطل پای ریش
Like the hunter who catches a shadow—how should the shadow become his property?
همچو صیادی که گیرد سایهای ** سایه کی گردد و را سرمایهای