- They acted well, and ‘twas fitly done: the pain of smoke is lighter than (that of) fire.
- نیک کردند و بجای خویش بود ** سهلتر باشد ز آتش رنج دود
- The pain of that (future) world is beyond description; light is the pain of this world beside it.
- حد ندارد وصف رنج آن جهان ** سهل باشد رنج دنیا پیش آن
- Oh, happy he that wages a holy war (of self-mortification), and puts a restraint upon the body and deals justice (against it),
- ای خنک آن کاو جهادی میکند ** بر بدن زجری و دادی میکند
- And, in order that he may be delivered from the pain of that world, lays upon himself this pain of serving God.
- تا ز رنج آن جهانی وارهد ** بر خود این رنج عبادت مینهد
- “I was saying, ‘O Lord, quickly inflict on me in this world that punishment, 2475
- من همیگفتم که یا رب آن عذاب ** هم در این عالم بران بر من شتاب
- So that I may have exemption (from it) in yonder world.’ About such-like a request was I knocking at the door .
- تا در آن عالم فراغت باشدم ** در چنین درخواست حلقه میزدم
- (Thereupon) such a (painful) sickness as this appeared in me: through pain my soul was deprived of rest.
- این چنین رنجوریی پیدام شد ** جان من از رنج بیآرام شد
- I have been left without power to perform my dhikr (commemoration of God) and litanies: I have become unconscious of myself and of (all) good and ill.
- ماندهام از ذکر و از اوراد خود ** بیخبر گشتم ز خویش و نیک و بد
- If I had not now beheld thy face, O thou whose scent is fortunate and blessed,
- گر نمیدیدم کنون من روی تو ** ای خجسته وی مبارک بوی تو
- I should have passed altogether from the bondage (of this life). Thou in kingly fashion hast bestowed on me this sympathy.” 2480
- میشدم از دست من یک بارگی ** کردیم شاهانه این غم خوارگی
- Said the Prophet, “Hey! do not offer this prayer again: do not dig yourself up from root and base.
- گفت هیهی این دعا دیگر مکن ** بر مکن تو خویش را از بیخ و بن
- What strength have you, O wretched ant, to endure that He should lay on you such a lofty mountain?”
- تو چه طاقت داری ای مور نژند ** که نهد بر تو چنان کوه بلند
- He answered, “O Sultan, I repent (and vow) that in no wise will I (henceforth) brag recklessly.
- گفت توبه کردم ای سلطان که من ** از سر جلدی نه لافم هیچ فن
- This world is the Desert (of the Israelites), and thou art Moses, and we because of (our) sin remain in the Desert in tribulation.
- این جهان تیه است و تو موسی و ما ** از گنه در تیه مانده مبتلا
- We are wayfaring for years, and at the end we are still held captive in the first stage (of the journey). 2485
- سالها ره میرویم و در اخیر ** همچنان در منزل اول اسیر
- If the heart of Moses were pleased with us, there would be shown (to us) the way through the Desert and the (farthest) border (thereof);
- گر دل موسی ز ما راضی بدی ** تیه را راه و کران پیدا شدی
- And if he were wholly disgusted with us, how by any means would trays of food come to us from heaven?
- ور به کل بیزار بودی او ز ما ** کی رسیدی خوانمان هیچ از سما
- How would springs gush from a rock, (and how) would there be security for our lives in the desert?
- کی ز سنگی چشمهها جوشان شدی ** در بیابانمان امان جان شدی
- Nay, truly, fire would come instead of trays: flames would beat upon us in this abode.
- بل به جای خوان خود آتش آمدی ** اندر این منزل لهب بر ما زدی
- Forasmuch as Moses has become of two minds concerning us, he is sometimes our enemy and sometimes our friend. 2490
- چون دو دل شد موسی اندر کار ما ** گاه خصم ماست گاهی یار ما
- His anger sets fire to our goods; his clemency averts the arrow of affliction.
- خشمش آتش میزند در رخت ما ** حلم او رد میکند تیر بلا
- When (how) may it be that anger shall again become clemency? This is not extraordinary (as proceeding) from thy grace, O venerable one.
- کی بود که حلم گردد خشم نیز ** نیست این نادر ز لطفت ای عزیز
- To praise any one present is (a cause of) embarrassment; on this account I am purposely using the name of Moses, like this.
- مدح حاضر وحشت است از بهر این ** نام موسی میبرم قاصد چنین
- Otherwise, how should Moses deem it right that I make mention of anybody before thee?
- ور نه موسی کی روا دارد که من ** پیش تو یاد آورم از هیچ تن
- Our covenant hath been broken hundreds and thousands of times; Thy covenant, like a mountain, stands firm and stable. 2495
- عهد ما بشکست صد بار و هزار ** عهد تو چون کوه ثابت برقرار
- Our covenant is straw and subject to every wind (of passion); Thy covenant is a mountain, and even more than a hundred mountains.
- عهد ما کاه و به هر بادی زبون ** عهد تو کوه و ز صد که هم فزون
- By the truth of that power (which is Thine), have some mercy upon our mutability, O Ruler of (all) mutations!
- حق آن قوت که بر تلوین ما ** رحمتی کن ای امیر لونها
- We have seen ourselves (as we really are) and our shame. Put us not to further trial, O King,
- خویش را دیدیم و رسوایی خویش ** امتحان ما مکن ای شاه بیش
- So that (by sparing us) Thou wilt have concealed other disgraces, O Bounteous One whose help we implore!
- تا فضیحتهای دیگر را نهان ** کرده باشی ای کریم مستعان
- Thou art infinite in beauty and perfection; we are infinite in wrongness and error. 2500
- بیحدی تو در جمال و در کمال ** در کژی ما بیحدیم و در ضلال
- Direct Thy infinity, O Bounteous One, upon the infinite wrongness of a handful of vile wretches (such as we are).
- بیحدی خویش بگمار ای کریم ** بر کژی بیحد مشتی لئیم
- Oh, come, for of our cloth-piece (only) a single thread remains we were a city, and (only) a single wall remains.
- هین که از تقطیع ما یک تار ماند ** مصر بودیم و یکی دیوار ماند
- (Save) the remnant, (save) the remnant, O Sovereign, that the soul of the Devil may not rejoice entirely––
- البقیه البقیه ای خدیو ** تا نگردد شاد کلی جان دیو
- Not for our sakes, (but) for the sake of the primal grace through which Thou didst seek out them that had lost the way.
- بهر ما نه بهر آن لطف نخست ** که تو کردی گمرهان را باز جست
- As Thou hast shown Thy power, (so now) show Thy mercy, O Thou who hast implanted feelings of mercy in flesh and fat. 2505
- چون نمودی قدرتت بنمای رحم ** ای نهاده رحمها در لحم و شحم
- If this prayer increase Thy wrath, do Thou teach (us) to pray, O Lord,
- این دعا گر خشم افزاید ترا ** تو دعا تعلیم فرما مهترا
- Even as, (when) Adam fell from Paradise, Thou gavest him (leave) to turn (in penitence) toward Thee, so that he escaped from the ugly Devil.”
- آن چنان کادم بیفتاد از بهشت ** رجعتش دادی که رست از دیو زشت
- Who is the Devil that he should surpass Adam and win the game from him on such a board?
- دیو که بود کاو ز آدم بگذرد ** بر چنین نطعی از او بازی برد
- In truth, it all turned out to Adam’s advantage: that guile became a curse to the envious one.
- در حقیقت نفع آدم شد همه ** لعنت حاسد شده آن دمدمه
- He (the Devil) saw one game, (but) he did not see two hundred games (which he should lose): therefore he cut down the supports of his own house. 2510
- بازیی دید و دو صد بازی ندید ** پس ستون خانهی خود را برید
- He set fire by night to the cornfield of others; (meanwhile) O wind, drive the fire into his field!
- آتشی زد شب به کشت دیگران ** باد آتش را به کشت او بران
- The (Divine) curse was a blind to the Devil, so that he regarded that trickery (of his) as harm to (his) enemy.
- چشم بندی بود لعنت دیو را ** تا زیان خصم دید آن ریو را
- The (Divine) curse is that which makes him (any one) see falsely, and makes him envious, self-conceited, and malicious,
- لعنت این باشد که کژبینش کند ** حاسد و خود بین و پر کینش کند
- To the end that he may not know that whoever does evil, it (that evil) will at last come back and smite him.
- تا نداند که هر آن که کرد بد ** عاقبت باز آید و بر وی زند
- He sees all the master-moves invertedly: (hence) they result in check-mate to him and (in) failure and defeat. 2515
- جمله فرزین بندها بیند بعکس ** مات بر وی گردد و نقصان و وکس
- (The curse blinds him), because, if he regard himself as naught, (if) he regard the wound (his moral and spiritual blindness) as deadly and festering,
- ز انکه گر او هیچ بیند خویش را ** مهلک و ناسور بیند ریش را
- Pain will arise from such looking within, and the pain will bring him out from the veil (of self-conceit).
- درد خیزد زین چنین دیدن درون ** درد او را از حجاب آرد برون
- Until mothers are overtaken by the pains of childbirth, the child finds no way to be born.
- تا نگیرد مادران را درد زه ** طفل در زادن نیابد هیچ ره
- This (God-given) trust is in the heart, and the heart is pregnant (with it): these counsels (of the prophets and saints) are like the midwife.
- این امانت در دل و دل حامله ست ** این نصیحتها مثال قابله ست
- The midwife may say that the woman has no pain; (but) pain is necessary, pain is (makes) a way for the child (to be born). 2520
- قابله گوید که زن را درد نیست ** درد باید درد کودک را رهی است