Rumi's Masnavi - For it may be that the lock of this heart will be opened and that a place will be (granted) to this ugly one at the banquet of the beauteous.

For it may be that the lock of this heart will be opened and that a place will be (granted) to this ugly one at the banquet of the beauteous. 3495

که بود که قفل این دل وا شود ** زشت را در بزم خوبان جا شود

Through thee the deformed may become endowed with beauty, or an Iblís may again become one of the Cherubim;

مسخی از تو صاحب خوبی شود ** یا بلیسی باز کروبی شود

Or, by the august influence of Mary's hand, the withered bough may acquire the fragrance of musk and freshness and fruit.”

یا بفر دست مریم بوی مشک ** یابد و تری و میوه شاخ خشک

Thereupon the Israelite fell to worship and said, “O God who knowest the manifest and the hidden,

سبطی آن دم در سجود افتاد و گفت ** کای خدای عالم جهر و نهفت

To whom but Thee should Thy servant lift his hand? Both the prayer and the answer (to prayer) are from Thee.

جز تو پیش کی بر آرد بنده دست ** هم دعا و هم اجابت از توست

Thou at first givest the desire for prayer, and Thou at last givest likewise the recompense for prayers. 3500

هم ز اول تو دهی میل دعا ** تو دهی آخر دعاها را جزا

Thou art the First and the Last: we between are nothing, a nothing that does not come into (admit of) expression.”

اول و آخر توی ما در میان ** هیچ هیچی که نیاید در بیان

He was speaking in this wise, till he fell into ecstasy and his heart became senseless.

این چنین می‌گفت تا افتاد طشت ** از سر بام و دلش بیهوش گشت

(Whilst engaged) in prayer, he came back to his senses (and witnessed the effect of his prayer): Man shall have nothing but what he hath wrought.

باز آمد او به هوش اندر دعا ** لیس للانسان الا ما سعی

He was (still) praying when suddenly a loud cry and roar burst from the heart of the Egyptian,

در دعا بود او که ناگه نعره‌ای ** از دل قبطی بجست و غره‌ای

(Who exclaimed), “Come, make haste and submit (the profession of) the Faith (for my acceptance), that I may quickly cut the old girdle (of unbelief). 3505

که هلا بشتاب و ایمان عرضه کن ** تا ببرم زود زنار کهن

They have cast a fire into my heart, they have shown affection with (all) their soul for an Iblís (like me).

آتشی در جان من انداختند ** مر بلیسی را به جان بنواختند

Praise be to God! Thy friendship and (my) not being able to do without thee have succoured me at last.

دوستی تو و از تو ناشکفت ** حمدلله عاقبت دستم گرفت

My consortings with thee were (as) an elixir: may thy foot never disappear from the house of my heart!

کیمیایی بود صحبتهای تو ** کم مباد از خانه‌ی دل پای تو

Thou wert a bough of the palm-tree of Paradise: when I grasped it, it bore me to Paradise.

تو یکی شاخی بدی از نخل خلد ** چون گرفتم او مرا تا خلد برد

That which carried away my body was a torrent: the torrent bore me to the brink of the Sea of Bounty. 3510

سیل بود آنک تنم را در ربود ** برد سیلم تا لب دریای جود

I went towards the torrent in hope of (obtaining) water: I beheld the Sea and took pearls, bushel on bushel.”

من به بوی آب رفتم سوی سیل ** بحر دیدم در گرفتم کیل کیل

He (the Israelite) brought the cup to him, saying, “Now take the water!” “Go,” he replied; “(all) waters have become despicable in my sight.

طاس آوردش که اکنون آب‌گیر ** گفت رو شد آبها پیشم حقیر

I have drunk such a draught from God hath purchased that no thirst will come to me till the Congregation (at the Last Judgement).

شربتی خوردم ز الله اشتری ** تا به محشر تشنگی ناید مرا

He who gave water to the rivers and fountains hath opened a fountain within me.

آنک جوی و چشمه‌ها را آب داد ** چشمه‌ای در اندرون من گشاد

This heart, which was hot and water-drinking—to its high aspiration water has become vile. 3515

این جگر که بود گرم و آب‌خوار ** گشت پیش همت او آب خوار

He (God), for the sake of His servants, became (symbolised by) the (letter) káf of Káfí (All-sufficing), (in token of) the truth of the promise of Káf, Há, Yá, ‘Ayn, Sád.

کاف کافی آمد او بهر عباد ** صدق وعده‌ی کهیعص

(God saith), ‘I am All-sufficing: I will give thee all good, without (the intervention of) a secondary cause, without the mediation of another's aid.

کافیم بدهم ترا من جمله خیر ** بی‌سبب بی‌واسطه‌ی یاری غیر

I am All-sufficing: I will give thee satiety without bread, I will give thee sovereignty without soldiers and armies.

کافیم بی‌نان ترا سیری دهم ** بی‌سپاه و لشکرت میری دهم

I will give thee narcissi and wild-roses without the spring, I will give thee instruction without a book and teacher.

بی‌بهارت نرگس و نسرین دهم ** بی‌کتاب و اوستا تلقین دهم

I am All-sufficing: I will heal thee without medicine, I will make the grave and the pit a (spacious) playing-field. 3520

کافیم بی داروت درمان کنم ** گور را و چاه را میدان کنم

To a Moses I give heart (courage) with a single rod, that he may brandish swords against a multitude.

موسیی را دل دهم با یک عصا ** تا زند بر عالمی شمشیرها

(Such) a light and splendour do I give to the hand of Moses that it is slapping the sun (in triumph).

دست موسی را دهم یک نور و تاب ** که طپانچه می‌زند بر آفتاب

I make the wooden staff a seven-headed dragon, which the female dragon does not (conceive and) bring to birth from the male.

چوب را ماری کنم من هفت سر ** که نزاید ماده مار او را ز نر

I do not mingle blood in the water of the Nile: in sooth by My cunning I make the very essence of its water to be blood.

خون نیامیزم در آب نیل من ** خود کنم خون عین آبش را به فن

I turn thy joy into sorrow like the (polluted) water of the Nile, so that thou wilt not find the way to rejoicings. 3525

شادیت را غم کنم چون آب نیل ** که نیابی سوی شادیها سبیل

Again, when thou art intent on renewing thy faith and abjurest Pharaoh once more,

باز چون تجدید ایمان بر تنی ** باز از فرعون بیزاری کنی

Thou wilt see (that) the Moses of Mercy (has) come, thou wilt see the Nile of blood turned by him into water.

موسی رحمت ببینی آمده ** نیل خون بینی ازو آبی شده

When thou keepest safe within (thee) the end of the rope (of faith), the Nile of thy spiritual delight will never be changed into blood.’

چون سر رشته نگه داری درون ** نیل ذوق تو نگردد هیچ خون

I thought I would profess the Faith in order that from this deluge of blood I might drink some water.

من گمان بردم که ایمان آورم ** تا ازین طوفان خون آبی خورم

How did I know that He would work a transformation in my nature and make me a (spiritual) Nile? 3530

من چه دانستم که تبدیلی کند ** در نهاد من مرا نیلی کند

To my own eye, I am a flowing Nile, (but) to the eyes of others I am at rest.”

سوی چشم خود یکی نیلم روان ** برقرارم پیش چشم دیگران

Just as, to the Prophet, this world is plunged in glorification of God, while to us it is heedless (insensible).

هم‌چنانک این جهان پیش نبی ** غرق تسبیحست و پیش ما غبی

To his eye, this world is filled with love and bounty; to the eyes of others it is dead and inert.

پیش چشمش این جهان پر عشق و داد ** پیش چشم دیگران مرده و جماد

To his eye, vale and hill are moving swiftly: he hears subtle discourse from clod and brick.

پست و بالا پیش چشمش تیزرو ** از کلوخ و خشت او نکته شنو

To the vulgar, all this (world) is a bound and dead (thing): I have not seen a veil (of blindness) more wonderful than this. 3535

با عوام این جمله بسته و مرده‌ای ** زین عجب‌تر من ندیدم پرده‌ای

To our eye, (all) the graves are alike; to the eyes of the saints, (one is) a garden (in Paradise), and (another is) a pit (in Hell).

گورها یکسان به پیش چشم ما ** روضه و حفره به چشم اولیا

The vulgar would say, “Wherefore has the Prophet become sour (of visage) and why has he become pleasure-killing?”

عامه گفتندی که پیغامبر ترش ** از چه گشتست و شدست او ذوق‌کش

The elect would say, “To your eyes, O peoples, he appears to be sour;

خاص گفتندی که سوی چشمتان ** می‌نماید او ترش ای امتان

(But) come for once into our eyes, that ye may behold the laughs (of delight described) in (the Súra beginning with the words) Hal atá (Did not there come?).”

یک زمان درچشم ما آیید تا ** خنده‌ها بینید اندر هل اتی

That appears (to thee) in the form of inversion (illusion) from the top of the pear-tree: come down, O youth! 3540

از سر امرود بن بنماید آن ** منعکس صورت بزیر آ ای جوان

The pear-tree is the tree of (phenomenal) existence: whilst thou art there, the new appears old.

آن درخت هستی است امرودبن ** تا بر آنجایی نماید نو کهن

Whilst thou art there, thou wilt see (only) a thorn-brake full of the scorpions of wrath and full of snakes.

تا بر آنجایی ببینی خارزار ** پر ز کزدمهای خشم و پر ز مار

When thou comest down, thou wilt behold, free of cost, a world filled with rose-cheeked (beauties) and (their) nurses.

چون فرود آیی ببینی رایگان ** یک جهان پر گل‌رخان و دایگان

Story of the lewd woman who said to her husband, "Those illusions appear to thee from the top of the pear-tree, for the top of that pear-tree causes the human eye to see such things: come down from the top of the pear-tree, that those illusions may vanish." And if any one should say that what that man saw was not an illusion, the answer is that this (story) is a parable, not a (precise) similitude. In the (story regarded as a) parable this amount (of resemblance) is sufficient, for if he had not gone to the top of the peartree, he would never have seen those things, whether illusory or real.

حکایت آن زن پلیدکار کی شوهر را گفت کی آن خیالات از سر امرودبن می‌نماید ترا کی چنینها نماید چشم آدمی را سر آن امرودبن از سر امرودبن فرود آی تا آن خیالها برود و اگر کسی گوید کی آنچ آن مرد می‌دید خیال نبود و جواب این مثالیست نه مثل در مثال همین قدر بس بود کی اگر بر سر امرودبن نرفتی هرگز آنها ندیدی خواه خیال خواه حقیقت

That woman desired to embrace her paramour in the presence of her foolish husband.

آن زنی می‌خواست تا با مول خود ** بر زند در پیش شوی گول خود