- (We beseech thee to) revolve in another wise and show mercy, ere thou uproot us. 2315
- که دگرگون گردی و رحمت کنی ** پیش از آن که بیخ ما را بر کنی
- (We beseech thee by) the truth of thy having fostered us at first, so that our (young) shoot grew up from (the nurture given by) water and earth;
- حق آن که دایگی کردی نخست ** تا نهال ما ز آب و خاک رست
- By the truth of that King who created thee pure and displayed so many cressets in thee,
- حق آن شه که ترا صاف آفرید ** کرد چندان مشعله در تو پدید
- Who hath kept thee so flourishing and lasting that the materialist hath thought thee (existent) from eternity.
- آن چنان معمور و باقی داشتت ** تا که دهری از ازل پنداشتت
- Thanks (to God), we have come to know thy beginning: the prophets have told that secret of thine.
- شکر دانستیم آغاز ترا ** انبیا گفتند آن راز ترا
- A man knows that a house is made (at some time or other); the spider which plays idly in it (knows) not (this). 2320
- آدمی داند که خانه حادث است ** عنکبوتی نه که در وی عابث است
- How should the gnat know of what date this garden is?––for ‘twas born in spring, and its death is in the (following) winter.
- پشه کی داند که این باغ از کی است ** کاو بهاران زاد و مرگش در دی است
- The worm that is born miserably in (dry) wood––how should it know the wood at the time when it was a (sappy) shoot?
- کرم کاندر چوب زاید سست حال ** کی بداند چوب را وقت نهال
- And if the worm should know (this), it would be intellect in its essential substance; the worm would be (only) its (outward) form.
- ور بداند کرم از ماهیتش ** عقل باشد کرم باشد صورتش
- Intellect shows itself (in many) guises, (but) like the Jinn is leagues removed from them (in its real nature).
- عقل خود را مینماید رنگها ** چون پری دور است از آن فرسنگها
- It is above the angels––what occasion is there for (comparing it with) the Jinn? (But) you have the wings of a gnat, you are flying downwards. 2325
- از ملک بالاست چه جای پری ** تو مگس پری به پستی میپری
- Although your intellect is flying upward, the bird of your conventional notions is feeding below.
- گر چه عقلت سوی بالا میپرد ** مرغ تقلیدت به پستی میچرد
- Conventional knowledge is the bane of our souls; it is a borrowed thing, but we rest (at ease in the belief) that it is ours.
- علم تقلیدی وبال جان ماست ** عاریه ست و ما نشسته کان ماست
- It behoves us to become ignorant of this (worldly) wisdom; (rather) must we clutch at madness.
- زین خرد جاهل همی باید شدن ** دست در دیوانگی باید زدن
- Always flee from whatever you deem profitable to your (lower) self: drink poison and spill the water of life.
- هر چه بینی سود خود ز آن میگریز ** زهر نوش و آب حیوان را بریز
- Revile any one that praises you: lend (both) interest and capital to the destitute. 2330
- هر که بستاند ترا دشنام ده ** سود و سرمایه به مفلس وام ده
- Let safety go, and dwell in the place of fear (danger): leave reputation behind and be disgraced and notorious.
- ایمنی بگذار و جای خوف باش ** بگذر از ناموس و رسوا باش و فاش
- I have tried far-thinking (provident) intellect; henceforth I will make myself mad.
- آزمودم عقل دور اندیش را ** بعد از این دیوانه سازم خویش را
- How Dalqak excused himself to the Sayyid-i Ajall (who asked him) why he had married a harlot.
- عذر گفتن دلقک با سید که چرا فاحشه را نکاح کرد
- One night the Sayyid-i Ajall said to Dalqak, “You have married a harlot in haste.
- گفت با دلقک شبی سید اجل ** قحبهای را خواستی تو از عجل
- You ought to have disclosed this (matter) to me, so that we might have made a chaste (woman) your wife.”
- با من این را باز میبایست گفت ** تا یکی مستور کردیمیت جفت
- Dalqak replied, “I have (already) married nine chaste and virtuous women: they became harlots, and I wasted away with grief. 2335
- گفت نه مستور صالح خواستم ** قحبه گشتند و ز غم تن کاستم
- I married this harlot without (previous) acquaintance (with her), in order to see how this one (also) would turn out in the end.
- خواستم این قحبه را بیمعرفت ** تا ببینم چون شود این عاقبت
- Often have I tried (sound) intelligence; henceforth I will seek a nursery for insanity.”
- عقل را من آزمودم هم بسی ** زین سپس جویم جنون را مغرسی
- How an inquirer managed to draw into conversation an eminent (saintly) man who had feigned to be mad.
- به حیلت در سخن آوردن سائل آن بزرگ را که خود را دیوانه ساخته بود
- A certain man was saying, “I want some one of intelligence, (that) I may consult him about a difficulty.”
- آن یکی میگفت خواهم عاقلی ** مشورت آرم بدو در مشکلی
- One said to him, “In our city there is nobody of intelligence except yonder man who appears to be mad.
- آن یکی گفتش که اندر شهر ما ** نیست عاقل جز که آن مجنوننما
- Look, there is (one named) so-and-so: mounted on a cane, he rides (it as a cock-horse) amongst the children. 2340
- بر نیی گشته سواره نک فلان ** میدواند در میان کودکان
- He is possessed of judgment and (keen as) a spark of fire; he is as the sky in dignity, and as the stars in high estate.
- صاحب رای است و آتش پارهای ** آسمان قدر است و اختر بارهای
- His glory has become the (rational) soul of the Cherubim; he has become concealed in this (feigned) madness.”
- فر او کروبیان را جان شده ست ** او در این دیوانگی پنهان شده ست
- But you must not account every madman a (rational) soul: do not, like Sámirí, lay down your head (in worship) to a calf.
- لیک هر دیوانه را جان نشمری ** سر منه گوساله را چون سامری
- When a manifest saint has declared unto you hundreds of thousands of unseen things and hidden mysteries,
- چون ولیی آشکارا با تو گفت ** صد هزاران غیب و اسرار نهفت
- And you have not had the (proper) understanding and knowledge, (so that) you have not distinguished dung from aloes-wood— 2345
- مر ترا آن فهم و آن دانش نبود ** واندانستی تو سرگین را ز عود
- How, when the saint has made for himself a veil of madness, will you recognise him, O blind one?
- از جنون خود را ولی چون پرده ساخت ** مر و را ای کور کی خواهی شناخت
- If your eye of intuitive certainty is open, behold a (spiritual) captain under every stone.
- گر ترا باز است آن دیدهی یقین ** زیر هر سنگی یکی سرهنگ بین
- To the eye that is open and (as) a guide, every dervish-cloak hath a Moses in its embrace.
- پیش آن چشمی که باز و رهبر است ** هر گلیمی را کلیمی در بر است
- ’Tis only the saint (himself) that makes the saint known and makes fortunate whomsoever he will.
- مر ولی را هم ولی شهره کند ** هر که را او خواست با بهره کند
- No one can recognise him by means of wisdom when he has feigned to be mad. 2350
- کس نداند از خرد او را شناخت ** چون که او مر خویش را دیوانه ساخت
- When a seeing thief steals from a blind man, can he at all detect (the identity of) the thief (who is) in the act of passing?
- چون بدزدد دزد بینایی ز کور ** هیچ یابد دزد را او در عبور
- The blind man does not know who it was that robbed him, even though the wicked thief may knock against him.
- کور نشناسد که دزد او که بود ** گر چه خود بر وی زند دزد عنود
- When a dog bites a blind ragged mendicant, how should he recognise that ferocious dog?
- چون گزد سگ کور صاحب ژنده را ** کی شناسد آن سگ درنده را
- How the dog attacked the mendicant who was blind.
- حمله بردن سگ بر کور گدا
- A dog was attacking, as (though it were) a warlike lion, a blind mendicant in a certain street.
- یک سگی در کوی بر کور گدا ** حمله میآورد چون شیر وغا
- The dog rushes angrily at dervishes; the moon smears her eyes with dust of (the feet of) dervishes. 2355
- سگ کند آهنگ درویشان به خشم ** در کشد مه خاک درویشان به چشم
- The blind man was made helpless by the dog's barking and by (his) fear of the dog; the blind man began to pay honour to the dog.
- کور عاجز شد ز بانگ و بیم سگ ** اندر آمد کور در تعظیم سگ
- Saying, “O prince of the chase, and O lion of the hunt, thine is the (upper) hand: refrain thy hand from me!”—
- کای امیر صید و ای شیر شکار ** دست دست تست دست از من بدار
- For, (moved) by necessity, that (renowned) philosopher paid honour to (one vile as) the tail of an ass, and gave him the title of “noble.”
- کز ضرورت دم خر را آن حکیم ** کرد تعظیم و لقب دادش کریم
- He (the blind man) too, of necessity, said, “O lion, what (good) will come to thee from such a meagre prey as I am?
- گفت او هم از ضرورت کای اسد ** از چو من لاغر شکارت چه رسد
- Thy friends are catching onagers in the desert; thou art catching a blind man in the street; this is bad. 2360
- گور میگیرند یارانت به دشت ** کور میگیری تو در کوچه به گشت
- Thy friends seek on agers by hunting (them); thou in (mere) malice seekest a blind man in the street.”
- گور میجویند یارانت به صید ** کور میجویی تو در کوچه به کید
- The knowing dog has made the onager his prey, while this worthless dog has attacked a blind man.
- آن سگ عالم شکار گور کرد ** وین سگ بیمایه قصد کور کرد
- When the dog has learned the knowledge (imparted to him), he has escaped from error: he hunts lawful prey in the jungles.
- علم چون آموخت سگ رست از ضلال ** میکند در بیشهها صید حلال
- When the dog has become knowing (‘álim), he marches briskly; when the dog has become a knower of God (‘árif), he becomes (as) the Men of the Cave.
- سگ چو عالم گشت شد چالاک زحف ** سگ چو عارف گشت شد ز اصحاب کهف