The soul (spiritual result) of (every) man and woman is waiting (for them) in the Unseen: why are you delaying? Step forward at once (on the way).3900
منتظر در غیب جان مرد و زن ** مول مولت چیست زوتر گام زن
He (the captain) lost his way and, (beguiled) by that false dawn, fell like a gnat into the pot of buttermilk.
راه گم کرد او از آن صبح دروغ ** چون مگس افتاد اندر دیگ دوغ
How that military chief repented of the sin which he had committed and adjured the girl not to tell the Caliph anything of what had happened.
پشیمان شدن آن سرلشکر از آن خیانت کی کرد و سوگند دادن او آن کنیزک را کی به خلیفه باز نگوید از آنچ رفت
He was absorbed in that (love-affair) for a while, (but) afterwards he repented of that grievous crime,
چند روزی هم بر آن بد بعد از آن ** شد پشیمان او از آن جرم گران
And adjured her, saying, “O thou whose face is like the sun, do not give the Caliph any hint of what has passed.”
داد سوگندش کای خورشیدرو ** با خلیفه زینچ شد رمزی مگو
When the Caliph saw her he became distraught (with love), and then too his secret was exposed to all.
چون ندید او را خلیفه مست گشت ** پس ز بام افتاد او را نیز طشت
He saw (her to be) a hundred times as beautiful as he (the informer) had described her: how in sooth should seeing be like hearing?3905
دید صد چندان که وصفش کرده بود ** کی بود خود دیده مانند شنود
Description is a picture (drawn) for the eye of intelligence: know that the (sensible) form belongs to the eye, not to the ear.
وصف تصویرست بهر چشم هوش ** صورت آن چشم دان نه زان گوش
A certain man asked an eloquent person, “What are truth and falsehood, O man of goodly discourse?”
کرد مردی از سخن‌دانی سال ** حق و باطل چیست ای نیکو مقال
He took hold of his ear and said, “This is false: the eye is true and possesses certainty.”
گوش را بگرفت و گفت این باطلست ** چشم حقست و یقینش حاصلست
The former is relatively false as compared with the latter: most sayings are relative, O trusty one.
آن به نسبت باطل آمد پیش این ** نسبتست اغلب سخنها ای امین
If the bat screens itself from the sun, (yet) it is not screened from the fancy (idea) of the sun.3910
ز آفتاب ار کرد خفاش احتجاب ** نیست محجوب از خیال آفتاب
Even the fancy (idea) of it (the sun) puts fear into it (the bat): that fancy leads it towards the darkness.
خوف او را خود خیالش می‌دهد ** آن خیالش سوی ظلمت می‌کشد
That fancy (idea) of the light terrifies it and causes it to become attached to the night of gloom.
آن خیال نور می‌ترساندش ** بر شب ظلمات می‌چفساندش
’Tis from the fancy (idea) and the picture (thou hast formed) of thy enemy that thou hast become attached to thy comrade and friend.
از خیال دشمن و تصویر اوست ** که تو بر چفسیده‌ای بر یار و دوست
O Moses, the revelation given to thee illumined the mountain, (but) the fancy conceiving (mountain) could not endure thy real experience (of the revelation).
موسیا کشفت لمع بر که فراشت ** آن مخیل تاب تحقیقت نداشت
Hark, be not deluded by (the belief) that thou art able to conceive the fancy (idea) thereof and by this means canst attain (to the reality).3915
هین مشو غره بدانک قابلی ** مر خیالش را و زین ره واصلی
No one was ever terrified by the (mere) fancy (idea) of war: there is no bravery before (actual) war. Know this, and ’tis enough.
از خیال حرب نهراسید کس ** لا شجاعه قبل حرب این دان و بس
(Possessed) with the fancy (idea) of war, the poltroon makes, in his thoughts, a hundred heroic attacks (on the enemy).
بر خیال حرب خیز اندر فکر ** می‌کند چون رستمان صد کر و فر
The antagonist (conceived) in the mind of every raw (weakling) is the picture of Rustam that may be (found) in a bath-house.
نقش رستم که آن به حمامی بود ** قرن حمله فکر هر خامی بود
When this fancy (idea) derived from hearing becomes (actually) visible, what of the poltroon? (Even) a Rustam (hero) is compelled (to submit).
این خیال سمع چون مبصر شود ** حیز چه بود رستمی مضطر شود
Endeavour that it (the fancy) may pass from thine ear into thine eye, and that what has (hitherto) been unreal may become real.3920
جهد کن کز گوش در چشمت رود ** آنچ که آن باطل بدست آن حق شود
After that, thine ear will become connatural with thine eye: the two ears, (gross) as wool, will become of pure substance (and subtle);
زان سپس گوشت شود هم طبع چشم ** گوهری گردد دو گوش هم‌چو یشم
Nay, thy whole body will become like a mirror: it will become all eye and pure spiritual substance.
بلک جمله تن چو آیینه شود ** جمله چشم و گوهر سینه شود
The ear rouses a fancy, and that fancy is the go-between (that leads) to union with that Beauty.
گوش انگیزد خیال و آن خیال ** هست دلاله‌ی وصال آن جمال
Endeavour that this fancy may increase, so that the go-between may become a guide for Majnún.
جهد کن تا این خیال افزون شود ** تا دلاله رهبر مجنون شود
That foolish Caliph, too, was mightily infatuated for awhile with that girl.3925
آن خلیفه گول هم یک چند نیز ** ریش گاوی کرد خوش با آن کنیز
Suppose the (monarch's) empire is the empire of the West and the East: since it will not remain, deem it to be (as fleeting as) a lightning-flash.
ملک را تو ملک غرب و شرق گیر ** چون نمی‌ماند تو آن را برق گیر
O thou whose heart is slumbering (heedless), know that the kingdom that does not remain unto everlasting is (but) a dream.
مملکت کان می‌نماند جاودان ** ای دلت خفته تو آن را خواب دان
Consider what thou wilt do with (all) that vanity and vainglory; for (ultimately) it will grip thy throat like an executioner.
تا چه خواهی کرد آن باد و بروت ** که بگیرد هم‌چو جلادی گلوت
Know that even in this world there is a safe refuge: do not listen to the hypocrite who says there is none.
هم درین عالم بدان که مامنیست ** از منافق کم شنو کو گفت نیست
The argument of those who disbelieve in the after-life, and a demonstration of the weakness of that argument, since their argument amounts to “We do not see any other (world) than this.”
حجت منکران آخرت و بیان ضعف آن حجت زیرا حجت ایشان به دین باز می‌گردد کی غیر این نمی‌بینیم
This is his (the hypocrite's) argument: he says at every moment, “If there were anything else, I should have seen it.”3930
حجتش اینست گوید هر دمی ** گر بدی چیزی دگر هم دیدمی
If a child does not see the various aspects of reason, will a rational person ever abandon reason?
گر نبیند کودکی احوال عقل ** عاقلی هرگز کند از عقل نقل
And if a rational person does not see the various aspects of Love, (yet) the auspicious moon of Love does not wane.
ور نبیند عاقلی احوال عشق ** کم نگردد ماه نیکوفال عشق
Joseph's beauty was not seen by the eyes of his brethren, (but) when did it (ever) disappear from the heart of Jacob?
حسن یوسف دیده‌ی اخوان ندید ** از دل یعقوب کی شد ناپدید
The (physical) eye of Moses regarded the staff (rod) as wood; the eye of the Invisible beheld (in it) a serpent and (cause of) panic.
مر عصا را چشم موسی چوب دید ** چشم غیبی افعی و آشوب دید
The eye of the head was in conflict with the eye of the heart: the eye of the heart prevailed (over the other) and displayed the proof.3935
چشم سر با چشم سر در جنگ بود ** غالب آمد چشم سر حجت نمود
The (physical) eye of Moses regarded his hand as a hand, (but) to the eye of the Invisible it was a manifest light.
چشم موسی دست خود را دست دید ** پیش چشم غیب نوری بد پدید
This matter hath no limit in perfection, (yet) it seems like a fancy to every one that is deprived (of the reality).
این سخن پایان ندارد در کمال ** پیش هر محروم باشد چون خیال
Since to him the reality is the pudendum and the gullet, do not expound the mysteries of the Beloved to him.
چون حقیقت پیش او فرج و گلوست ** کم بیان کن پیش او اسرار دوست
To us the pudendum and the gullet are a (mere) fancy; consequently the (Beloved) Soul displays His beauty (to us) at every moment. [To us the private parts and the gullet are a (mere) fancy; consequently the (Beloved) Soul displays His beauty (to us) at every moment.]
پیش ما فرج و گلو باشد خیال ** لاجرم هر دم نماید جان جمال
Any one whose custom and habit is (addiction to) the pudendum and the gullet, for him (the fit answer) is “Unto you (your) religion and unto me (my) religion.”3940
هر که را فرج و گلو آیین و خوست ** آن لکم دین ولی دین بهر اوست
Cut short thy talk with such (incarnate) scepticism: do not converse, O Ahmad, with the ancient infidel.
با چنان انکار کوته کن سخن ** احمدا کم گوی با گبر کهن
Venit Khalífa ad puellam formosam concubitus causa. [How the Caliph came next to that one of beautiful face for the sake of (sexual) intercourse.]