If the elixir say to the copper, “Give thyself up to me,” cupidity does not prevail (over it).
گر بگوید کیمیا مس را بده ** تو به من خود را طمع نبود فره
God had offered to the Shaykh (all) the treasures of the earth down to the seventh tier;
گنجهای خاک تا هفتم طبق ** عرضه کرده بود پیش شیخ حق
(But) the Shaykh said, “O Creator, I am a lover: if I seek aught but Thee, I am impious.
شیخ گفتا خالقا من عاشقم ** گر بجویم غیر تو من فاسقم
If I should bring into view the Eight Paradises, or if I should serve Thee from fear of Hell,
هشت جنت گر در آرم در نظر ** ور کنم خدمت من از خوف سقر
(Then) I am (only) a believer seeking salvation, for both these (motives) are concerned with the body.”2715
مومنی باشم سلامت‌جوی من ** زانک این هر دو بود حظ بدن
A hundred bodies are not worth a bean in the eyes of the lover who has received nutriment from God's love;
عاشقی کز عشق یزدان خورد قوت ** صد بدن پیشش نیرزد تره‌توت
And this body which the Shaykh of insight possesses has become something different: do not call it a body.
وین بدن که دارد آن شیخ فطن ** چیز دگر گشت کم خوانش بدن
(To be) in love with God's love and then (desire) a wage! (To be) a trusted Gabriel and then a thief!
عاشق عشق خدا وانگاه مزد ** جبرئیل متمن وانگاه دزد
In the eyes of that wretched lover of Laylá the kingdom of the world was (worthless as) a vegetable.
عاشق آن لیلی کور و کبود ** ملک عالم پیش او یک تره بود
Earth and gold were alike in his eyes. What of gold? (Even) his life had no value (for him).2720
پیش او یکسان شده بد خاک و زر ** زر چه باشد که نبد جان را خطر
Lions and wolves and wild beasts were acquainted with him and gathered round him like kinsfolk,
شیر و گرگ و دد ازو واقف شده ** هم‌چو خویشان گرد او گرد آمده
(Knowing) that this man had become entirely purged of animality and filled with love, and that his flesh and fat were poisonous (to them).
کین شدست از خوی حیوان پاک پاک ** پر ز عشق و لحم و شحمش زهرناک
The sweets scattered by Reason are poison to the wild beast, because the good of (that which is) good is antagonistic to (that which is) evil.
زهر دد باشد شکرریز خرد ** زانک نیک نیک باشد ضد بد
The wild beast dare not devour the flesh of the lover: Love is known both to the good and the evil;
لحم عاشق را نیارد خورد دد ** عشق معروفست پیش نیک و بد
And if the wild beast devour him even parabolically, the lover's flesh will become poison and kill him.2725
ور خورد خود فی‌المثل دام و ددش ** گوشت عاشق زهر گردد بکشدش
Everything except love is devoured by Love: to the beak of Love the two worlds are (but) a single grain.
هر چه جز عشقست شد ماکول عشق ** دو جهان یک دانه پیش نول عشق
Does a grain ever devour the bird? Does the manger ever feed on the horse?
دانه‌ای مر مرغ را هرگز خورد ** کاهدان مر اسپ را هرگز چرد
Do service (to God), that perchance thou mayst become a lover: (devotional) service is a means of gaining (Love): it comes into action (produces an effect).
بندگی کن تا شوی عاشق لعل ** بندگی کسبیست آید در عمل
The servant (of God) desires to be freed from Fortune; the lover (of God) nevermore desires to be free.
بنده آزادی طمع دارد ز جد ** عاشق آزادی نخواهد تا ابد
The servant is always seeking a robe of honour and a stipend; all the lover's robe of honour is his vision of the Beloved.2730
بنده دایم خلعت و ادرارجوست ** خلعت عاشق همه دیدار دوست
Love is not contained in speech and hearing: Love is an ocean whereof the depth is invisible.
در نگنجد عشق در گفت و شنید ** عشق دریاییست قعرش ناپدید
The drops of the sea cannot be numbered: the Seven Seas are petty in comparison with that Ocean.
قطره‌های بحر را نتوان شمرد ** هفت دریا پیش آن بحرست خرد
This discourse hath no end. Return, O reader, to the story of the Shaykh of the time.
این سخن پایان ندارد ای فلان ** باز رو در قصه‌ی شیخ زمان
On the meaning of “But for thee, I would not have created the heavens.”
در معنی لولاک لما خلقت الافلاک
A Shaykh like this became a beggar (going) from street to street. Love is reckless: beware!
شد چنین شیخی گدای کو به کو ** عشق آمد لاابالی اتقوا
Love makes the sea boil like a kettle; Love crumbles the mountain like sand;2735
عشق جوشد بحر را مانند دیگ ** عشق ساید کوه را مانند ریگ
Love cleaves the sky with a hundred clefts; Love unconscionably makes the earth to tremble.
عشق‌بشکافد فلک را صد شکاف ** عشق لرزاند زمین را از گزاف
The pure Love was united with Mohammed: for Love's sake God said to him, “But for thee.”
با محمد بود عشق پاک جفت ** بهر عشق او را خدا لولاک گفت
Since he alone was the ultimate goal in Love, therefore God singled him out from the (other) prophets,
منتهی در عشق چون او بود فرد ** پس مر او را ز انبیا تخصیص کرد
(Saying), “Had it not been for pure Love's sake, how should I have bestowed an existence on the heavens?
گر نبودی بهر عشق پاک را ** کی وجودی دادمی افلاک را
I have raised up the lofty celestial sphere, that thou mayst apprehend the sublimity of Love.2740
من بدان افراشتم چرخ سنی ** تا علو عشق را فهمی کنی
Other benefits come from the celestial sphere: it is like the egg, (while) these (benefits) are consequential, like the chick.
منفعتهای دیگر آید ز چرخ ** آن چو بیضه تابع آید این چو فرخ
I have made the earth altogether lowly, that thou mayst gain some notion of the lowliness of lovers.
خاک را من خوار کردم یک سری ** تا ز خواری عاشقان بویی بری
We have given greenness and freshness to the earth, that thou mayst become acquainted with the (spiritual) transmutation of the dervish.”
خاک را دادیم سبزی و نوی ** تا ز تبدیل فقیر آگه شوی
These firm-set mountains describe (represent) to thee the state of lovers in steadfastness,
با تو گویند این جبال راسیات ** وصف حال عاشقان اندر ثبات
Although that (state) is a reality, while this (description) is (only) an image, O son, (which is employed) in order that he (who offers it) may bring it nearer to thy understanding.2745
گرچه آن معنیست و این نقش ای پسر ** تا به فهم تو کند نزدیک‌تر
They liken anguish to thorns; it is not that (in reality), but they do so as a means of arousing (thy) attention.
غصه را با خار تشبیهی کنند ** آن نباشد لیک تنبیهی کنند
When they called a hard heart “stony,” that was (really) inappropriate, (but) they made it serve as a similitude.
آن دل قاسی که سنگش خواندند ** نامناسب بد مثالی راندند
The archetype of that (object of comparison) is inconceivable: put the blame on thy conceptual faculty, and do not regard it (the archetype) as negated (nonexistent).
در تصور در نیاید عین آن ** عیب بر تصویر نه نفیش مدان
How the Shaykh, in obedience to the intimation from the Unseen, went with his basket four times in one day to the house of a certain Amír for the purpose of begging; and how the Amír rebuked him for his impudence, and how he excused himself to the Amír.
رفتن این شیخ در خانه‌ی امیری بهر کدیه روزی چهار بار به زنبیل به اشارت غیب و عتاب کردن امیر او را بدان وقاحت و عذر گفتن او امیر را
One day the Shaykh went four times to the palace of an Amír, in order to beg like a dervish,
شیخ روزی چار کرت چون فقیر ** بهر کدیه رفت در قصر امیر
(With) a basket in his hand, crying, “Something for God's sake! The Creator of the soul is seeking a piece of bread.”2750
در کفش زنبیل و شی لله زنان ** خالق جان می‌بجوید تای نان
’Tis preposterous, O son: it makes even Universal Reason giddy-headed (astounded).
نعلهای بازگونه‌ست ای پسر ** عقل کلی را کند هم خیره‌سر
When the Amír saw him, he said to him, “O impudent man, I will tell you something, (but) do not fasten on me the name of niggard.
چون امیرش دید گفتش ای وقیح ** گویمت چیزی منه نامم شحیح
What callousness and effrontery and (insolent) behaviour is this, that you come in (here) four times in one day?
این چه سغری و چه رویست و چه کار ** که به روزی اندر آیی چار بار
Who here is attached to you, Shaykh? Never have I seen a sturdy beggar like you.
کیست اینجا شیخ اندر بند تو ** من ندیدم نر گدا مانند تو
You have brought (all) beggars into contempt and disgrace: what abominable importunity, worthy of ‘Abbás (himself), is this that you have shown!2755
حرمت و آب گدایان برده‌ای ** این چه عباسی زشت آورده‌ای
‘Abbás (the seller) of date-syrup is (merely) your groom: may no freethinker (mulhid) have such an ill-starred soul!”
غاشیه بر دوش تو عباس دبس ** هیچ ملحد را مباد این نفس نحس
He replied, “O Amír, I am devoted to the (Divine) command. Be silent! Thou art not acquainted with my (inward) fire: do not boil (rage) so much!