(If) the shadow (protection) of God be over the head of the servant (of God), the seeker at last will be a finder.
سایه‌ی حق بر سر بنده بود ** عاقبت جوینده یابنده بود
The Prophet said that when you knock at a door, at last a head will come forth from that door.
گفت پیغامبر که چون کوبی دری ** عاقبت زان در برون آید سری
When you sit (wait) on the road of a certain person, at last you will see also the face of a certain person.
چون نشینی بر سر کوی کسی ** عاقبت بینی تو هم روی کسی
When, every day, you keep digging the earth from a pit, at last you will arrive at the pure water.
چون ز چاهی می‌کنی هر روز خاک ** عاقبت اندر رسی در آب پاک
(Even) if you may not believe (it), all know this, (that) one day you will reap whatsoever you are sowing.4785
جمله دانند این اگر تو نگروی ** هر چه می‌کاریش روزی بدروی
You struck the stone (flint) against the iron (steel): the fire did not flash out! This may not be; or if it be (so), ’tis rare.
سنگ بر آهن زدی آتش نجست ** این نباشد ور بباشد نادرست
He to whom felicity and salvation are not apportioned (by God)—his mind regards naught but the rarities.
آنک روزی نیستش بخت و نجات ** ننگرد عقلش مگر در نادرات
(He says) that such and such a one sowed seed and had no crop, while that (other) one bore away an oyster-shell (from the sea), and the shell had no pearl (within it).
کان فلان کس کشت کرد و بر نداشت ** و آن صدف برد و صدف گوهر نداشت
(He says that in the cases of) Bal‘am son of Bá‘úr and the accursed Iblís, their acts of worship and their religion availed them not.
بلعم باعور و ابلیس لعین ** سود نامدشان عبادتها و دین
The hundreds of thousands of prophets and travellers on the Way do not come into the mind of that evil-thinking man.4790
صد هزاران انبیا و ره‌روان ** ناید اندر خاطر آن بدگمان
He takes these two (examples) which produce (spiritual) darkness: how should (his) ill fate put aught but this in his heart?
این دو را گیرد که تاریکی دهد ** در دلش ادبار جز این کی نهد
Oh, there is many a one that eats bread with a glad heart, and it becomes the death of him: it sticks in his gullet.
بس کسا که نان خورد دلشاد او ** مرگ او گردد بگیرد در گلو
Go, then, O ill-fated man, do not eat bread at all, lest thou fall like him into bale and woe!
پس تو ای ادبار رو هم نان مخور ** تا نیفتی همچو او در شور و شر
Hundreds of thousands of folk are eating loaves of bread and gaining strength and nourishing the (vital) spirit.
صد هزاران خلق نانها می‌خورند ** زور می‌یابند و جان می‌پرورند
How hast thou fallen into that rare (calamity), unless thou art deprived (of blessedness) and art born a fool?4795
تو بدان نادر کجا افتاده‌ای ** گر نه محرومی و ابله زاده‌ای
He (the ill-fated man) has forsaken this world full of sunshine and moonlight and has plunged his head into the pit,
این جهان پر آفتاب و نور ماه ** او بهشته سر فرو برده به چاه
Saying, “If it is true, then where is the radiance?” Lift up thy head from the pit and look, O miserable wretch!
که اگر حقست پس کو روشنی ** سر ز چه بردار و بنگر ای دنی
The whole world, east and west, obtained that light, (but) whilst thou art in the pit it will not shine upon thee.
جمله عالم شرق و غرب آن نور یافت ** تا تو در چاهی نخواهد بر تو تافت
Leave the pit, go to the palace and the vineyards; do not wrangle here, know that quarrelling is unlucky.
چه رها کن رو به ایوان و کروم ** کم ستیز اینجا بدان کاللج شوم
Beware! Do not say, “Mark you, such and such a one sowed seed, and in such and such a year the locusts devoured what he had sown.4800
هین مگو کاینک فلانی کشت کرد ** در فلان سالی ملخ کشتش بخورد
Why, then, should I sow? for there is danger in this respect. Why should I scatter this corn(-seed) from my hand?”
پس چرا کارم که اینجا خوف هست ** من چرا افشانم این گندم ز دست
And (meanwhile) he who did not neglect to sow and labour fills his barn (with grain), to your confusion.
و آنک او نگذاشت کشت و کار را ** پر کند کوری تو انبار را
Since he (the lover) was patiently knocking at a door, at last one day he obtained a meeting in private.
چون دری می‌کوفت او از سلوتی ** عاقبت در یافت روزی خلوتی
From fear of the night-patrol he sprang by night into the orchard: (there) he found his beloved, (radiant) as candle and lamp.
جست از بیم عسس شب او به باغ ** یار خود را یافت چون شمع و چراغ
At that moment he said to the Maker of the means (by which he had attained to his desire), “O God, have mercy on the night-patrol!4805
گفت سازنده‌ی سبب را آن نفس ** ای خدا تو رحمتی کن بر عسس
Unbeknown (to me), Thou hast created the means: from the gate of Hell Thou hast brought me to Paradise.
ناشناسا تو سببها کرده‌ای ** از در دوزخ بهشتم برده‌ای
Thou hast made this affair (dread of the night-patrol) a means, to the end that I may not hold (even) a single thorn in contempt.”
بهر آن کردی سبب این کار را ** تا ندارم خوار من یک خار را
In (consequence of) the fracture of a leg God bestows a wing; likewise from the depths of the pit He opens a door (of escape).
در شکست پای بخشد حق پری ** هم ز قعر چاه بگشاید دری
(God saith), “Do not consider whether thou art on a tree or in a pit: consider Me, for I am the Key of the Way.”
تو مبین که بر درختی یا به چاه ** تو مرا بین که منم مفتاح راه
If you wish (to read) the rest of this tale, seek (it), O my brother, in the Fourth Book.4810
گر تو خواهی باقی این گفت و گو ** ای اخی در دفتر چارم بجو