The story of the King and the amirs and their envy of the favourite slave and lord of wisdom
قصهی شاه و امیران و حسد ** بر غلام خاص و سلطان خرد
Has been left far (behind) on account of the powerful attraction of the discourse.(Now) we must turn back and conclude it.
دور ماند از جر جرار کلام ** باز باید گشت و کرد آن را تمام
The happy and fortunate gardener of the (Divine) kingdom — how should not he know one tree from another?
باغبان ملک با اقبال و بخت ** چون درختی را نداند از درخت
The tree that is bitter and reprobate, and the tree whose one is (as) seven hundred (of the other)—
آن درختی را که تلخ و رد بود ** و آن درختی که یکش هفصد بود
How, in rearing (them), should he deem (them) equal, when he beholds them with the eye (that is conscious) of the end,1565
کی برابر دارد اندر تربیت ** چون ببیندشان به چشم عاقبت
(And knows) what (different) fruit those trees will ultimately bear, though at this moment they are alike in appearance'?
کان درختان را نهایت چیست بر ** گر چه یکسانند این دم در نظر
The Shaykh who has become seeing by the light of God has become acquainted with the end and the beginning.
شیخ کاو ینظر بنور الله شد ** از نهایت وز نخست آگاه شد
He has shut for God's sake the eye that sees the stable (the world); he has opened,in priority, the eye that sees the end.
چشم آخر بین ببست از بهر حق ** چشم آخر بین گشاد اندر سبق
Those envious ones were bad trees; they were ill-fortuned ones of bitter stock.
آن حسودان بد درختان بودهاند ** تلخ گوهر شور بختان بودهاند
They were boiling and foaming with envy, and were starting plots in secret.1570
از حسد جوشان و کف میریختند ** در نهانی مکر میانگیختند
That they might behead the favourite slave and tear up his root from the world;
تا غلام خاص را گردن زنند ** بیخ او را از زمانه بر کنند
(But) how should he perish, since the King was his soul, and his root was under the protection of God?
چون شود فانی چو جانش شاه بود ** بیخ او در عصمت الله بود
The King had become aware of those secret thoughts, (but) like Bú Bakr-i Rabábí he kept silence.
شاه از آن اسرار واقف آمده ** همچو بو بکر ربابی تن زده
In (viewing) the spectacle of the hearts of (those) evil-natured ones he was clapping his hands (derisively) at those potters (schemers).
در تماشای دل بد گوهران ** میزدی خنبک بر آن کوزهگران
Some cunning people devise stratagems to get the King into a beer-jug;1575
مکر میسازند قومی حیلهمند ** تا که شه را در فقاعی در کنند
(But) a King (so) exceedingly grand and illimitable—how should He be contained in a beer jug, O asses?
پادشاهی بس عظیمی بیکران ** در فقاعی کی بگنجد ای خران
They knitted a net for the King; (yet) after all, they (had) learnt this contrivance from Him.
از برای شاه دامی دوختند ** آخر این تدبیر از او آموختند
Ill-starred is the pupil that begins rivalry with his master and comes forward (to contend with him).
نحس شاگردی که با استاد خویش ** همسری آغازد و آید به پیش
With what master? The master of the world, to whom the manifest and the occult are alike;
با کدام استاد استاد جهان. ** پیش او یکسان هویدا و نهان
Whose eyes have become seeing by the light of God and have rent the veils of ignorance.1580
چشم او ینظر بنور الله شده ** پردههای جهل را خارق بده
(Making) a veil of (his) heart, (which is as) full of holes as an old blanket, he (the disciple) puts it on in the presence of that Sage.
از دل سوراخ چون کهنه گلیم ** پردهای بندد به پیش آن حکیم
The veil laughs at him with a hundred mouths, every mouth having become a slit (open) to that (master). [The veil laughs at him with a hundred mouths, every mouth having become (like) a slit (vulva) in the thighs (of a woman).]
پرده میخندد بر او با صد دهان ** هر دهانی گشته اشکافی بر آن
The master says to the disciple, "O you who are less than a dog, have you no faithfulness to me?
گوید آن استاد مر شاگرد را ** ای کم از سگ نیستت با من وفا
Even suppose I am not a master and an iron-breaker, suppose I am a disciple like yourself and blind of heart,
خود مرا استا مگیر آهن گسل ** همچو خود شاگرد گیر و کوردل
Have not you help in spirit and mind from me? Without me no water is set flowing for you.1585
نه از منت یاری است در جان و روان ** بیمنت آبی نمیگردد روان
Therefore my heart is the factory of your fortune: why would you break this factory, O unrighteous one?"
پس دل من کارگاه بخت تست ** چه شکنی این کارگاه ای نادرست
You may say that you kindle the flame (of rivalry) against him in secret (not openly); but is there not a window between heart and heart?
گوییاش پنهان زنم آتش زنه ** نه به قلب از قلب باشد روزنه
After all, he sees your thought through the window: your heart gives testimony as to what you are meditating.
آخر از روزن ببیند فکر تو ** دل گواهی میدهد زین ذکر تو
Suppose that, from kindness, he does not rebuke you to your face, (and that) whatever you say, he smiles and says "Yes"
گیر در رویت نمالد از کرم ** هر چه گویی خندد و گوید نعم
He does not smile from pleasure at your stroking (flattering him); he smiles at that (concealed) thought of yours.1590
او نمیخندد ز ذوق مالشت ** او همیخندد بر آن اسگالشت
So a deceit is paid with a deceit: strike with a cup, (and you) get struck with a jug—serve you right!
پس خداعی را خداعی شد جزا ** کاسه زن کوزه بخور اینک سزا
Were his smile at you one of approval, hundreds of thousands of flowers would blossom for you.
گر بدی با تو و را خندهی رضا ** صد هزاران گل شکفتی مر ترا
When his heart works (for you) in approval, deem it (to be) a sun entering Aries,
چون دل او در رضا آرد عمل ** آفتابی دان که آید در حمل
Because of whom both the day and the spring smile, and blossoms and green fields are mingled together,
زو بخندد هم نهار و هم بهار ** در هم آمیزد شکوفه و سبزهزار
And myriads of nightingales and ringdoves pour their song into the unplenished world.1595
صد هزاران بلبل و قمری نوا ** افکنند اندر جهان بینوا
When you see the leaves of your spirit yellow and black; how know you not the anger of the King?
چون که برگ روح خود زرد و سیاه ** میببینی چون ندانی خشم شاه
The King's sun, in the (zodiacal) sign of reproach, makes faces black as a piece of roasted meat.
آفتاب شاه در برج عتاب ** میکند روها سیه همچون کباب
Our souls are leaves for that Mercury (to write on): that white and black (writing) is our standard (criterion).
آن عطارد را ورقها جان ماست ** آن سپیدی و آن سیه میزان ماست
Again, he writes a patent in red and green, that (our) spirits may be delivered from melancholy and despair.
باز منشوری نویسد سرخ و سبز ** تا رهند ارواح از سودا و عجز
Red and green are Spring's cancellation (of winter); in regard (to their significance they are) like the (coloured) lines of the rainbow.1600
سرخ و سبز افتاد نسخ نو بهار ** چون خط قوس و قزح در اعتبار
How reverence for the message of Solomon, on whom be peace, was reflected in the heart of Bilqís from the despicable form of the hoopoe.
عکس تعظیم پیغام سلیمان علیه السلام در دل بلقیس از صورت حقیر هدهد
Hundredfold mercy be on that Bilqís to whom God gave the intellect of a hundred men!
رحمت صد تو بر آن بلقیس باد ** که خدایش عقل صد مرده بداد
A hoopoe brought the letter with the (royal) sign-manual from Solomon—a few eloquent words.
هدهدی نامه بیاورد و نشان ** از سلیمان چند حرفی با بیان
(When) she read those pregnant sayings, she did not look with contempt on the messenger.
خواند او آن نکتهای با شمول ** با حقارت ننگرید اندر رسول
Her body saw him as a hoopoe, (but) her spirit saw him as the ‘Anqá; her senses saw him as a fleck of foam, (but) her heart saw him as the sea.
جسم هدهد دید و جان عنقاش دید ** حس چو کفی دید و دل دریاش دید
Because of these two-coloured (diverse) talismans (appearance and reality) the intellect is at war with the senses, as Mohammed with the likes of Abú Jahl.1605
عقل با حس زین طلسمات دو رنگ ** چون محمد با ابو جهلان به جنگ
The infidels regarded Ahmad (Mohammed) as (only) a man, since they did not see in him (the Prophetic nature which was manifested by the miracle) the moon was cleft asunder.
کافران دیدند احمد را بشر ** چون ندیدند از وی انشق القمر
Throw dust on your sense-perceiving eye: the sensuous eye is the enemy of intellect and religion.
خاک زن در دیدهی حس بین خویش ** دیدهی حس دشمن عقل است و کیش
God has called the sensuous eye blind; He has said that it is an idolater and our foe,
دیدهی حس را خدا اعماش خواند ** بت پرستش گفت و ضد ماش خواند
Because it saw the foam and not the sea, because it saw the present and not to-morrow.
ز انکه او کف دید و دریا را ندید ** ز انکه حالی دید و فردا را ندید
The master of to-morrow and of the present (is) before it; (yet) of a (whole) treasure it sees only a groat.1610
خواجهی فردا و حالی پیش او ** او نمیبیند ز گنجی جز تسو