Beauty in humankind is like gilding; else, how did your sweetheart become (as ugly as) an old ass?
چون زر اندود است خوبی در بشر ** ور نه چون شد شاهد تو پیر خر
She was like an angel, she became like a demon, for that loveliness in her was a borrowed (transient) thing.
چون فرشته بود همچون دیو شد ** کان ملاحت اندر او عاریه بد
Little by little they take away that beauty: little by little the sapling withers.
اندک اندک میستانند آن جمال ** اندک اندک خشک میگردد نهال
Go, recite (the text) to whom so We grant length of days, him We cause to decline. Seek the heart (spirit), set not thy heart on bones;715
رو نعمره ننکسه بخوان ** دل طلب کن دل منه بر استخوان
For that beauty of the heart is the lasting beauty: its fortune gives to drink of the Water of Life.
کان جمال دل جمال باقی است ** دولتش از آب حیوان ساقی است
Truly it is both the water and the giver of drink and the drunken: all three become one when your talisman is shattered.
خود هم او آب است و هم ساقی و مست ** هر سه یک شد چون طلسم تو شکست
That oneness you cannot know by reasoning. Do service (to God) and refrain from foolish gabble, O undiscerning man!
آن یکی را تو ندانی از قیاس ** بندگی کن ژاژ کم خا ناشناس
Your reality is the form and that which is borrowed: you rejoice in what is relative and (secondary like) rhyme.
معنی تو صورت است و عاریت ** بر مناسب شادی و بر قافیت
Reality is that which seizes (enraptures) you and makes you independent of form.720
معنی آن باشد که بستاند ترا ** بینیاز از نقش گرداند ترا
Reality is not that which makes blind and deaf and causes a man to be more in love with form.
معنی آن نبود که کور و کر کند ** مرد را بر نقش عاشقتر کند
The portion of the blind is the fancy that increases pain; the share of the (spiritual) eye is these fancies (ideas) of dying to self (faná).
کور را قسمت خیال غم فزاست ** بهرهی چشم این خیالات فناست
The blind are a mine (full) of the letter of the Qur’án: they do not see the ass, and (only) cling to the pack-saddle.
حرف قرآن را ضریران معدناند ** خر نبینند و به پالان بر زنند
Since you have sight, go after the ass which has jumped (away from you): how long (will you persist in) stitching the saddle, O saddle-worshipper?
چون تو بینایی پی خر رو که جست ** چند پالان دوزی ای پالان پرست
When the ass is there, the saddle will certainly be yours: bread does not fail when you have the (vital) spirit.725
خر چو هست آید یقین پالان ترا ** کم نگردد نان چو باشد جان ترا
(On) the back of the ass is shop and wealth and gain; the pearl of your heart is the stock (which provides wealth) for a hundred bodies.
پشت خر دکان و مال و مکسب است ** در قلبت مایهی صد قالب است
Mount the ass bare-backed, O busybody: did not the Prophet ride the ass bare-backed?
خر برهنه بر نشین ای بو الفضول ** خر برهنه نه که راکب شد رسول
The Prophet rode (his beast) bare-backed; and the Prophet, it is said, journeyed on foot.
النبی قد رکب معروریا ** و النبی قیل سافر ماشیا
The ass, your fleshly soul, has gone off; tie it to a peg. How long will it run away from work and burden, how long?
شد خر نفس تو بر میخیش بند ** چند بگریزد ز کار و بار چند
It must bear the burden of patience and thanksgiving, whether for a hundred years or for thirty or twenty.730
بار صبر و شکر او را بردنی است ** خواه در صد سال و خواهی سی و بیست
None that is laden supported another's load; none reaped until he sowed something.
هیچ وازر وزر غیری بر نداشت ** هیچ کس ندرود تا چیزی نکاشت
’Tis a raw (absurd) hope; eat not what is raw, O son: eating raw brings illness to men.
طمع خام است آن مخور خام ای پسر ** خام خوردن علت آرد در بشر
(Do not say to yourself), “So-and-so suddenly found a treasure; I would like the same: neither work nor shop (for me)!”
کان فلانی یافت گنجی ناگهان ** من همان خواهم نه کار و نه دکان
That (discovery of treasure) is Fortune's doing (a piece of luck), and moreover it is rare: one must earn a living so long as the body is able.
کار بخت است آن و آن هم نادر است ** کسب باید کرد تا تن قادر است
How does earning a livelihood prevent the (discovery of) treasure? Do not retire from work: that (treasure), indeed, is (following) behind (the work).735
کسب کردن گنج را مانع کی است ** پا مکش از کار آن خود در پی است
See that you are not made captive by “if,” saying, “If I had done this or the other (thing),”
تا نگردی تو گرفتار اگر ** که اگر این کردمی یا آن دگر
For the sincere Prophet forbade (people) to say “if,” and said, “That is from hypocrisy”;
کز اگر گفتن رسول با وفاق ** منع کرد و گفت آن هست از نفاق
For the hypocrite died in saying “if,” and from saying “if” he won nothing but remorse.
کان منافق در اگر گفتن بمرد ** وز اگر گفتن بجز حسرت نبرد
Parable.
مثل
A certain stranger was hastily seeking a house: a friend took him to a house in ruins.
آن غریبی خانه میجست از شتاب ** دوستی بردش سوی خانهی خراب
He said (to the stranger), “If this (house) had a roof, it would be a home for you beside me.740
گفت او این را اگر سقفی بدی ** پهلوی من مر ترا مسکن شدی
Your family too would be comfortable, if it had another room in it.”
هم عیال تو بیاسودی اگر ** در میانه داشتی حجرهی دگر
“Yes,” said he, “it is nice (to be) beside friends, but my dear soul, one cannot lodge in ‘if’.”
گفت آری پهلوی یاران خوش است ** لیک ای جان در اگر نتوان نشست
All the world are seekers of happiness, and on account of a false happiness they are in the fire.
این همه عالم طلبکار خوشند ** وز خوش تزویر اندر آتشند
Old and young have become gold-seekers, but the common eye does not distinguish alloy from gold.
طالب زر گشته جمله پیر و خام ** لیک قلب از زر نداند چشم عام
The pure (gold) shot a beam on the alloy: see that you choose not the gold on the ground of (mere) opinion, without a touchstone.745
پرتوی بر قلب زد خالص ببین ** بیمحک زر را مکن از ظن گزین
If you have a touchstone, choose; otherwise, go, devote yourself to him that knows (the difference).
گر محک داری گزین کن ور نه رو ** نزد دانا خویشتن را کن گرو
Either you must have a touchstone within your own soul, or if you know not the Way, do not go forward alone.
یا محک باید میان جان خویش ** ور ندانی ره مرو تنها تو پیش
The cry of the ghouls is the cry of an acquaintance—an acquaintance who would lure you to perdition.
بانگ غولان هست بانگ آشنا ** آشنایی که کشد سوی فنا
She (the ghoul) keeps on crying, “Hark, O caravan people! Come towards me, here is the track and the landmarks.”
بانگ میدارد که هان ای کاروان ** سوی من آیید نک راه و نشان
The ghoul mentions the name of each, saying “O so-and-so,” in order that she may make that personage one of those who sink.750
نام هر یک میبرد غول ای فلان ** تا کند آن خواجه را از آفلان
When he reaches the spot, he sees wolves and lions, his life lost, the road far off, and the day late.
چون رسد آن جا ببیند گرگ و شیر ** عمر ضایع راه دور و روز دیر
Prithee say, what is the ghoul's cry like? (It is) “I desire riches, I desire position and renown.”
چون بود آن بانگ غول آخر بگو ** مال خواهم جاه خواهم و آبرو
Prevent these voices from (entering) your heart, so that (spiritual) mysteries may be revealed.
از درون خویش این آوازها ** منع کن تا کشف گردد رازها
Repeat (in prayer) the name of God, drown the cry of the ghouls, close your narcissus eye to this vulture.
ذکر حق کن بانگ غولان را بسوز ** چشم نرگس را از این کرکس بدوز
Know the difference between the false dawn and the true, distinguish the colour of the wine from the colour of the cup,755
صبح کاذب را ز صادق واشناس ** رنگ می را باز دان از رنگ کاس
That, perchance, from the eyes which see the seven colours patience and waiting may produce a (spiritual) eye,
تا بود کز دیدهگان هفت رنگ ** دیدهای پیدا کند صبر و درنگ
(With which) you may behold colours other than these, and may behold pearls instead of stones.
رنگها بینی بجز این رنگها ** گوهران بینی به جای سنگها
What pearl? Nay, you will become an ocean, you will become a sun traversing the sky.
گوهر چه بلکه دریایی شوی ** آفتاب چرخ پیمایی شوی
The Worker is hidden in the workshop: go you and in the workshop see Him plain.
کار کن در کارگه باشد نهان ** تو برو در کارگه بینش عیان
Inasmuch as the work has woven a veil over the Worker, you cannot see Him outside of that work.760
کار چون بر کار کن پرده تنید ** خارج آن کار نتوانیش دید
Since the workshop is the dwelling-place of the Worker, he that is outside is unaware of Him.
کارگه چون جای باش عامل است ** آن که بیرون است از وی غافل است