Do not listen to the friendliness of the fair-spoken ignorant man, for it is like old (virulent) poison.
دوستی جاهل شیرین‌سخن ** کم شنو کان هست چون سم کهن
He says to you, “O soul of thy mother! O light of my eye!” (but) from those (endearments) only grief and sorrow are added to you.
جان مادر چشم روشن گویدت ** جز غم و حسرت از آن نفزویدت
That (foolish) mother says plainly to your father, “My child has grown very thin because of (going to) school.
مر پدر را گوید آن مادر جهار ** که ز مکتب بچه‌ام شد بس نزار
If thou hadst gotten him by another wife, thou wouldst not have treated him with such cruelty and unkindness.”
از زن دیگر گرش آوردیی ** بر وی این جور و جفا کم کردیی
(Your father replies), “Had this child of mine been (born) of another (wife), not of thee, that wife too would have talked this (same) nonsense.”1435
از جز تو گر بدی این بچه‌ام ** این فشار آن زن بگفتی نیز هم
Beware, recoil from this mother and from her blandishments: your father's slaps are better than her sweetmeat.
هین بجه زن مادر و تیبای او ** سیلی بابا به از حلوای او
The mother is the carnal soul, and the father is noble reason: its beginning is constraint, but its end is a hundred expansions (of the spirit).
هست مادر نفس و بابا عقل راد ** اولش تنگی و آخر صد گشاد
O Giver of (all) understandings, come to my help: none wills (aught) unless Thou will (it).
ای دهنده‌ی عقلها فریاد رس ** تا نخواهی تو نخواهد هیچ کس
Both the desire (for good) and the good action (itself) proceed from Thee: who are we? Thou art the First, Thou art the Last.
هم طلب از تست و هم آن نیکوی ** ما کییم اول توی آخر توی
Do Thou speak and do Thou hear and do Thou be! We are wholly naught notwithstanding all this hewing.1440
هم بگو تو هم تو بشنو هم تو باش ** ما همه لاشیم با چندین تراش
Because of this resignation (to Thy will) do Thou increase our desire for worship (of Thee): do not send (upon us) the sloth and stagnation of necessitarianism.
زین حواله رغبت افزا در سجود ** کاهلی جبر مفرست و خمود
Necessitarianism is the wing and pinion of the perfect; necessitarianism is also the prison and chains of the slothful.
جبر باشد پر و بال کاملان ** جبر هم زندان و بند کاهلان
Know that this necessitarianism is like the water of the Nile— water to the true believer and blood to the infidel.
هم‌چو آب نیل دان این جبر را ** آب مومن را و خون مر گبر را
Wings carry falcons to the king; wings carry crows to the graveyard.
بال بازان را سوی سلطان برد ** بال زاغان را به گورستان برد
Now return to the description of non-existence, for it (non-existence) is like bezoar, though you think it is poison.1445
باز گرد اکنون تو در شرح عدم ** که چو پازهرست و پنداریش سم
Hark, O fellow-servant, go and, like the Hindú boy, be not afraid of the Mahmúd of non-existence.
هم‌چو هندوبچه هین ای خواجه‌تاش ** رو ز محمود عدم ترسان مباش
Be afraid of the existence in which you are now: that phantasy of yours is nothing and you (yourself) are nothing.
از وجودی ترس که اکنون در ویی ** آن خیالت لاشی و تو لا شیی
One nothing has fallen in love with another nothing: has any naught ever waylaid (and attacked) any other naught?
لاشیی بر لاشیی عاشق شدست ** هیچ نی مر هیچ نی را ره زدست
When these phantasies have departed from before you, that which your understanding hath not conceived becomes clear to you.
چون برون شد این خیالات از میان ** گشت نامعقول تو بر تو عیان
Those who have passed away do not grieve on account of death; their only regret is to have missed the opportunities (of life).
لیس للماضین هم الموت انما لهم حسره الموت
That captain of mankind has said truly that no one who has passed away from this world1450
راست گفتست آن سپهدار بشر ** که هر آنک کرد از دنیا گذر
Feels sorrow and regret and disappointment on account of death; nay, but he feels a hundred regrets for having missed the opportunity,
نیستش درد و دریغ و غبن موت ** بلک هستش صد دریغ از بهر فوت
Saying (to himself), “Why did not I make death my object —(death, which is) the store-house of every fortune and every provision—
که چرا قبله نکردم مرگ را ** مخزن هر دولت و هر برگ را
(And why), through seeing double, did I make the lifelong object of my attention those phantoms that vanished at the fated hour?”
قبله کردم من همه عمر از حول ** آن خیالاتی که گم شد در اجل
The grief of the dead is not on account of death; it is because (so they say) “we dwelt upon the (phenomenal) forms,
حسرت آن مردگان از مرگ نیست ** زانست کاندر نقشها کردیم ایست
And this we did not perceive, that those are (mere) form and foam, (and that) the foam is moved and fed by the Sea.”1455
ما ندیدیم این که آن نقش است و کف ** کف ز دریا جنبد و یابد علف
When the Sea has cast the foam-flakes on the shore, go to the graveyard and behold those flakes of foam!
چونک بحر افکند کفها را به بر ** تو بگورستان رو آن کفها نگر
Then say (to them), “Where is your movement and gyration (now)? The Sea has cast you into the crisis (of a deadly malady)”—
پس بگو کو جنبش و جولانتان ** بحر افکندست در بحرانتان
In order that they may say to you, not with their lips but implicitly, “Ask this question of the Sea, not of us.”
تا بگویندت به لب نی بل به حال ** که ز دریا کن نه از ما این سال
How should the foam-like (phenomenal) form move without the wave? How should the dust rise to the zenith without a wind?
نقش چون کف کی بجنبد بی ز موج ** خاک بی بادی کجا آید بر اوج
Since you have perceived the dust, namely, the form, perceive the wind; since you have perceived the foam, perceive the ocean of Creative Energy.1460
چون غبار نقش دیدی باد بین ** کف چو دیدی قلزم ایجاد بین
Come, perceive (it), for insight (is the only thing) in you (that) avails: the rest of you is a piece of fat and flesh, a weft and warp (of bones, muscles, etc.).
هین ببین کز تو نظر آید به کار ** باقیت شحمی و لحمی پود و تار
Your fat never increased the light in candles, your flesh never became roast-meat for any one drunken with (spiritual) wine.
شحم تو در شمعها نفزود تاب ** لحم تو مخمور را نامد کباب
Dissolve the whole of this body of yours in vision: pass into sight, pass into sight, into sight!
در گداز این جمله تن را در بصر ** در نظر رو در نظر رو در نظر
One sight perceives (only) two yards of the road; another sight has beheld the two worlds and the Face of the King.
یک نظر دو گز همی‌بیند ز راه ** یک نظر دو کون دید و روی شاه
Between these twain there is an incalculable difference: seek the collyrium—and God best knoweth the things occult.1465
در میان این دو فرقی بی‌شمار ** سرمه جو والله اعلم بالسرار
Since you have heard the description of the sea of non-existence, continually endeavour to stand (depend) upon this sea.
چون شنیدی شرح بحر نیستی ** کوش دایم تا برین بحر ایستی
Inasmuch as the foundation of the workshop is that non-existence which is void and traceless and empty,
چونک اصل کارگاه آن نیستیست ** که خلا و بی‌نشانست و تهیست
(And inasmuch as) all master-craftsmen seek non-existence and a place of breakage for the purpose of exhibiting their skill,
جمله استادان پی اظهار کار ** نیستی جویند و جای انکسار
Necessarily the Lord (who is) the Master of (all) masters— His workshop is non-existence and naught.
لاجرم استاد استادان صمد ** کارگاهش نیستی و لا بود
Wherever this non-existence is greater, (the more manifest) in that quarter is the work and workshop of God.1470
هر کجا این نیستی افزون‌ترست ** کار حق و کارگاهش آن سرست
Since the highest stage is non-existence, the dervishes have outstripped all (others),
نیستی چون هست بالایین طبق ** بر همه بردند درویشان سبق
Especially the dervish that has become devoid of body and (worldly) goods: poverty (deprivation) of body is the (important) matter, not beggary.
خاصه درویشی که شد بی جسم و مال ** کار فقر جسم دارد نه سال
The beggar is he whose (worldly) goods have melted away; the contented man is he who has gambled away (sacrificed) his body.
سایل آن باشد که مال او گداخت ** قانع آن باشد که جسم خویش باخت
Therefore do not now complain of affliction, for it is a smooth-paced horse (carrying you) towards non-existence.
پس ز درد اکنون شکایت بر مدار ** کوست سوی نیست اسپی راهوار
We have said so much: think of the remainder, (or) if thought be frozen (unable to move), practise recollection (of God).1475
این قدر گفتیم باقی فکر کن ** فکر اگر جامد بود رو ذکر کن
Recollection (of God) brings thought into movement: make recollection to be the sun for this congealed (thought).
ذکر آرد فکر را در اهتزاز ** ذکر را خورشید این افسرده ساز
(God's) pulling is, indeed, the original source; but, O fellow-servant, exert yourself, do not be dependent on that pulling;
اصل خود جذبه است لیک ای خواجه‌تاش ** کار کن موقوف آن جذبه مباش
For to renounce exertion is like an act of disdain: how should disdain be seemly for a devoted lover (of God)?
زانک ترک کار چون نازی بود ** ناز کی در خورد جانبازی بود
O youth, think neither of acceptance nor refusal: regard always the (Divine) command and prohibition.
نه قبول اندیش نه رد ای غلام ** امر را و نهی را می‌بین مدام
(Then) suddenly the bird, namely, the (Divine) attraction, will fly from its nest (towards you): put out the candle as soon as you see the dawn.1480