When a magnanimous guest will not eat some (inferior) food, the host brings better food,
ضیف با همت چو ز آشی کم خورد ** صاحب خوان آش بهتر آورد
Unless he be a poor host and a mean one. Do not think (so) ill of the generous Provider!
جز که صاحب خوان درویشی لیم ** ظن بد کم بر به رزاق کریم
Lift up your head like a mountain, O man of authority, in order that the first rays of the Sun may strike upon you;
سر برآور هم‌چو کوهی ای سند ** تا نخستین نور خور بر تو زند
For the lofty firm-based mountain-peak is expecting the sun of dawn.
که آن سر کوه بلند مستقر ** هست خورشید سحر را منتظر
Reply to the simpleton who has said that this world would be delightful if there were no death and that the possessions of the present life would be delightful if they were not fleeting, and (has uttered) other absurdities in the same style.
جواب آن مغفل کی گفته است کی خوش بودی این جهان اگر مرگ نبودی وخوش بودی ملک دنیا اگر زوالش نبودی و علی هذه الوتیرة من الفشارات
A certain man was saying, “The world would be delightful, were it not for the intervention of death.”1760
آن یکی می‌گفت خوش بودی جهان ** گر نبودی پای مرگ اندر میان
The other said, “If there were no death, the tangled world would not be worth a straw.
آن دگر گفت ار نبودی مرگ هیچ ** که نیرزیدی جهان پیچ‌پیچ
It would be (like) a stack heaped up in the field and neglected and left unthreshed.
خرمنی بودی به دشت افراشته ** مهمل و ناکوفته بگذاشته
You have supposed (what is really) death to be life: you have sown your seed in a barren soil.
مرگ را تو زندگی پنداشتی ** تخم را در شوره خاکی کاشتی
The false (discursive) reason, indeed, sees the reverse (of the truth): it sees life as death, O man of weak judgement.”
عقل کاذب هست خود معکوس‌بین ** زندگی را مرگ بیند ای غبین
Do Thou, O God, show (unto us) everything as it really is in this house of illusion.1765
ای خدا بنمای تو هر چیز را ** آنچنان که هست در خدعه‌سرا
None that has died is filled with grief on account of death; his grief is caused by having too little provision (for the life hereafter);
هیچ مرده نیست پر حسرت ز مرگ ** حسرتش آنست کش کم بود برگ
Otherwise (he would not grieve, for) he has come from a dungeon into the open country amidst fortune and pleasure and delight;
ورنه از چاهی به صحرا اوفتاد ** در میان دولت و عیش و گشاد
From this place of mourning and (this) narrow vale (of tribulation) he has been transported to the spacious plain.
زین مقام ماتم و ننگین مناخ ** نقل افتادش به صحرای فراخ
(’Tis) a seat of truth, not a palace of falsehood; a choice wine, not an intoxication with buttermilk.
مقعد صدقی نه ایوان دروغ ** باده‌ی خاصی نه مستیی ز دوغ
(’Tis) the seat of truth, and (there) God is beside him: he is delivered from this water and earth of the fire-temple.1770
مقعد صدق و جلیسش حق شده ** رسته زین آب و گل آتشکده
And if you have not (yet) led the illuminative life, one or two moments (still) remain: die (to self) like a man!
ور نکردی زندگانی منیر ** یک دو دم ماندست مردانه بمیر
Concerning what may be hoped for from the mercy of God most High, who bestows His favours before they have been deserved— and He it is who sends down the rain after they have despaired. And many an estrangement produces intimacy (as its result), and there is many a blessed sin, and many a happiness that comes in a case where penalties are expected, in order that it may be known that God changes their evil deeds to good.
فیما یرجی من رحمة الله تعالی معطی النعم قبل استحقاقها و هو الذی ینزل الغیث من بعد ما قنطوا و رب بعد یورث قربا و رب معصیة میمونة و رب سعادة تاتی من حیث یرجی النقم لیعلم ان الله یبدل سیاتهم حسنات
In the Traditions (of the Prophet) it is related that on the Day of Resurrection every single body will be commanded to arise.
در حدیث آمد که روز رستخیز ** امر آید هر یکی تن را که خیز
The blast of the trumpet is the command from the Holy God, namely, “O children (of Adam), lift up your heads from the grave.”
نفخ صور امرست از یزدان پاک ** که بر آرید ای ذرایر سر ز خاک
(Then) every one's soul will return to its body, just as consciousness returns to the (awakened) body at dawn.
باز آید جان هر یک در بدن ** هم‌چو وقت صبح هوش آید به تن
At daybreak the soul recognises its own body and re-enters its own ruin, like treasures (hidden in waste places).1775
جان تن خود را شناسد وقت روز ** در خراب خود در آید چون کنوز
It recognises its own body and goes into it: how should the soul of the goldsmith go to the tailor?
جسم خود بشناسد و در وی رود ** جان زرگر سوی درزی کی رود
The soul of the scholar runs to the scholar, the spirit of the tyrant runs to the tyrant;
جان عالم سوی عالم می‌دود ** روح ظالم سوی ظالم می‌دود
For the Divine Knowledge has made them (the souls) cognisant (of their bodies), as (happens with) the lamb and the ewe, at the hour of dawn.
که شناسا کردشان علم اله ** چونک بره و میش وقت صبحگاه
The foot knows its own shoe in the dark: how should not the soul know its own body, O worshipful one?
پای کفش خود شناسد در ظلم ** چون نداند جان تن خود ای صنم
Dawn is the little resurrection: O seeker of refuge (with God), judge from it what the greater resurrection will be like.1780
صبح حشر کوچکست ای مستجیر ** حشر اکبر را قیاس از وی بگیر
Even as the soul flies towards the clay (of its body), the scroll (of every one's good and evil actions) will fly into the left hand or the right.
آنچنان که جان بپرد سوی طین ** نامه پرد تا یسار و تا یمین
Into his hand will be put the scroll (register) of avarice and liberality, impiety and piety, and all the (good or evil) dispositions that he had formed yesterday.
در کفش بنهند نامه‌ی بخل و جود ** فسق و تقوی آنچ دی خو کرده بود
At dawn when he wakes from slumber, that good and evil will come back to him.
چون شود بیدار از خواب او سحر ** باز آید سوی او آن خیر و شر
If he has disciplined his moral nature, the same (purified) nature will present itself to him when he wakes;
گر ریاضت داده باشد خوی خویش ** وقت بیداری همان آید به پیش
And if yesterday he was ignorant and wicked and misguided, he will find his left hand black as a letter of mourning;1785
ور بد او دی خام و زشت و در ضلال ** چون عزا نامه سیه یابد شمال
But if yesterday he was (morally) clean and pious and religious, when he wakes he will gain the precious pearl.
ور بد او دی پاک و با تقوی و دین ** وقت بیداری برد در ثمین
Our sleep and waking are two witnesses which attest to us the significance of death and resurrection.
هست ما را خواب و بیداری ما ** بر نشان مرگ و محشر دو گوا
The lesser resurrection has shown forth the greater resurrection; the lesser death has illumined the greater death.
حشر اصغر حشر اکبر را نمود ** مرگ اصغر مرگ اکبر را زدود
But (in the present life) this scroll (of our good and evil actions) is a fancy and hidden (from our sight), though at the greater resurrection it will be very clearly seen.
لیک این نامه خیالست و نهان ** وآن شود در حشر اکبر بس عیان
Here this fancy is hidden, (only) the traces are visible; but there He (God) from this fancy will produce (actual) forms.1790
این خیال اینجا نهان پیدا اثر ** زین خیال آنجا برویاند صور
Behold in the architect the fancy (idea) of a house, (hidden) in his mind like a seed in a piece of earth.
در مهندس بین خیال خانه‌ای ** در دلش چون در زمینی دانه‌ای
That fancy comes forth from within (him), as the earth bears (plants) from the seed (sown) within.
آن خیال از اندرون آید برون ** چون زمین که زاید از تخم درون
Every fancy that makes its abode in the mind will become a (visible) form on the Day of Resurrection,
هر خیالی کو کند در دل وطن ** روز محشر صورتی خواهد شدن
Like the architect's fancy (conceived) in his thought; like the plant (produced) in the earth that takes the seed.
چون خیال آن مهندس در ضمیر ** چون نبات اندر زمین دانه‌گیر
My object in (speaking of) both these resurrections is (to tell) a story; (yet) in its exposition there is a moral for the true believers.1795
مخلصم زین هر دو محشر قصه‌ایست ** مومنان را در بیانش حصه‌ایست
When the sun of the Resurrection rises, foul and fair (alike) will leap up hastily from the grave.
چون بر آید آفتاب رستخیز ** بر جهند از خاک زشت و خوب تیز
They will be running to the Díwán (Chancery) of the (Divine) Decree: the good and bad coin will go into the crucible—
سوی دیوان قضا پویان شوند ** نقد نیک و بد به کوره می‌روند
The good coin joyously and with great delight; the false coin in anguish and melting (with terror).
نقد نیکو شادمان و ناز ناز ** نقد قلب اندر زحیر و در گداز
At every moment the (Divine) probations will be arriving (coming into action): the thoughts concealed in the heart will be appearing in the body,
لحظه لحظه امتحانها می‌رسد ** سر دلها می‌نماید در جسد
As when the water and oil in a lamp are exposed to view, or like a piece of earth from which grow up the (seeds) deposited within.1800
چون ز قندیل آب و روغن گشته فاش ** یا چو خاکی که بروید سرهاش
From onion, leek, and poppy the hand of Spring reveals the secret of Winter—
از پیاز و گندنا و کوکنار ** سر دی پیدا کند دست بهار
One (party) fresh and green, saying, “We are the devout”; and the other drooping their heads like the violet,
آن یکی سرسبز نحن المتقون ** وآن دگر هم‌چون بنفشه سرنگون
Their eyes starting out (of the sockets) from (dread of) the danger, and streaming like ten fountains from fear of the appointed end;
چشمها بیرون جهید از خطر ** گشته ده چشمه ز بیم مستقر
Their eyes remaining in (fearful) expectation, lest the scroll (of their deeds) come (to them) from the left side;
باز مانده دیده‌ها در انتظار ** تا که نامه ناید از سوی یسار
Their eyes rolling to right and left, because the fortune of the scroll (that comes) from the right (side) is not easy (to win).1805
چشم گردان سوی راست و سوی چپ ** زانک نبود بخت نامه‌ی راست زپ