A man lies asleep: his spirit is shining in Heaven, like the sun, while his body is in bed.
مرد خفته روح او چون آفتاب ** در فلک تابان و تن در جامه خواب
His spirit is hidden in the Void, like the fringe (sewn inside a garment): his body is turning to and fro beneath the coverlet.
جان نهان اندر خلا هم‌چون سجاف ** تن تقلب می‌کند زیر لحاف
Since the spirit, being from the command of my Lord, is invisible, every similitude that I may utter (concerning it) is denying (the truth of the description).3310
روح چون من امر ربی مختفیست ** هر مثالی که بگویم منتفیست
Oh, where, I wonder, is thy sugar-shedding ruby (lip) and those sweet replies and mysteries of thine?
ای عجب کو لعل شکربار تو ** وان جوابات خوش و اسرار تو
Oh, where, I wonder, is that candy-chewing cornelian (lip), the key to the lock of our perplexities?
ای عجب کو آن عقیق قندخا ** آن کلید قفل مشکل‌های ما
Oh, where, I wonder, is that breath (keen) as Dhu ’l-faqár, that used to make our understandings distraught?
ای عجب کو آن دم چون ذوالفقار ** آنک کردی عقل‌ها را بی‌قرار
How long, like a ringdove seeking her nest, (shall I cry) ‘where (kú) and where and where and where and where and where?’
چند هم‌چون فاخته کاشانه‌جو ** کو و کو و کو و کو و کو و کو
Where (is he now)? In the place where are the Attributes of (Divine) Mercy, and (the Divine) Power and Transcendence, and (celestial) Intelligence.3315
کو همان‌جا که صفات رحمتست ** قدرتست و نزهتست و فطنتست
Where (is he now)? In the same place where his heart and thought always dwelt, like the lion in his jungle.
کو همان‌جا که دل و اندیشه‌اش ** دایم آن‌جا بد چو شیر و بیشه‌اش
Where (is he now)? In that place whither the hope of (every) man and woman turns in the hour of anguish and sorrow.
کو همان‌جا که امید مرد و زن ** می‌رود در وقت اندوه و حزن
Where (is he now)? In the place to which in time of illness the eye takes wing in hope of (regaining) health—
کو همان‌جا که به وقت علتی ** چشم پرد بر امید صحتی
In that quarter where, in order to avert a calamity, you seek wind for (winnowing) the corn or (speeding) a ship (on its way);
آن طرف که بهر دفع زشتیی ** باد جویی بهر کشت و کشتیی
In that quarter which is signified by the heart when the tongue utters the expression ‘Yá Hú.’3320
آن طرف که دل اشارت می‌کند ** چون زبان یا هو عبارت می‌کند
He is always with God (and) beyond ‘where? where?’ (kú, kú). Would that like weavers I might have said má kú!
او مع‌الله است بی کو کو همی ** کاش جولاهانه ماکو گفتمی
Where is our reason, that it should (be able to) perceive the spiritual West and East (the universal Divine epiphany) flashing forth a hundred kinds of splendour?
عقل ما کو تا ببیند غرب و شرق ** روح‌ها را می‌زند صد گونه برق
His (the Khwája's) ebb and flow was caused by a (great) foaming Sea: (now) the ebb has ceased and (only) the flow remains.
جزر و مدش بد به بحری در زبد ** منتهی شد جزر و باقی ماند مد
I am nine thousand (dinars) in debt and have no resources: there are (only) a hundred dinars, (resulting) from this subscription.
نه هزارم وام و من بی دست‌رس ** هست صد دینار ازین توزیع و بس
God hath withdrawn thee (from this world) and I am left in agony: I am going (hence) in despair, O thou whose dust is sweet!3325
حق کشیدت ماندم در کش‌مکش ** می‌روم نومید ای خاک تو خوش
Keep in thy mind a prayer for thy grief-stricken (mourner), O thou whose face and hands and prayers are auspicious.
همتی می‌دار در پر حسرتت ** ای همایون روی و دست و همتت
I come to the spring and the source of (all) fountains: I find in it instead of water blood.
آمدم بر چشمه و اصل عیون ** یافتم در وی به جای آب خون
The sky is the same sky, (but) ’tis not the same moonlight: the river is the same river, (but) the water is not the same water.
چرخ آن چرخست آن مهتاب نیست ** جوی آن جویست آب آن آب نیست
There are benefactors, (but) where is that one who was found (by all) to be (supremely) good? There are stars, (but) where is that sun?
محسنان هستند کو آن مستطاب ** اختران هستند کو آن آفتاب
Thou hast gone unto God, O venerated man: I too, therefore, will go unto God.”3330
تو شدی سوی خدا ای محترم ** پس به سوی حق روم من نیز هم
God is the assembly-place where the generations (of mankind) are mustered under His banner: all are brought before Us.
مجمع و پای علم ماوی القرون ** هست حق کل لدینا محضرون
The pictures (phenomenal forms), whether unconscious or conscious (of it), are (always) present in the hand of the Painter.
نقش‌ها گر بی‌خبر گر با خبر ** در کف نقاش باشد محتصر
Moment by moment that traceless One is setting down (what He will) on the page of their thought and (then) obliterating it.
دم به دم در صفحه‌ی اندیشه‌شان ** ثبت و محوی می‌کند آن بی‌نشان
He is putting anger (there) and taking acquiescence away: He is putting stinginess (there) and taking generosity away.
خشم می‌آرد رضا را می‌برد ** بخل می‌آرد سخا را می‌برد
Never for (even) half a wink at eve or morn are my ideas exempt from this (process of) imprinting (on the mind) and obliterating.3335
نیم لحظه مدرکاتم شام و غدو ** هیچ خالی نیست زین اثبات و محو
The potter works at the pot to fashion it: how should the pot become broad and long of itself?
کوزه‌گر با کوزه باشد کارساز ** کوزه از خود کی شود پهن و دراز
The wood is kept constantly in the carpenter's hand: else how should it be hewn and put into right shape?
چوب در دست دروگر معتکف ** ورنه چون گردد بریده و متلف
The garment (while being made) is in the hands of a tailor: else how should it sew and cut of itself?
جامه اندر دست خیاطی بود ** ورنه از خود چون بدوزد یا درد
The water-skin is with the water-carrier, O adept: else how should it become full or empty by itself?
مشک با سقا بود ای منتهی ** ورنه از خود چون شود پر یا تهی
You are being filled and emptied at every moment: know, then, that you are in the hand of His working.3340
هر دمی پر می‌شوی تی می‌شوی ** پس بدانک در کف صنع ویی
On the Day when the eye-bandage falls from the eye, how madly will the work be enamoured of the Worker!
چشم‌بند از چشم روزی کی رود ** صنع از صانع چه سان شیدا شود
(If) you have an eye, look with your own eye: do not look through the eye of an ignorant fool.
چشم‌داری تو به چشم خود نگر ** منگر از چشم سفیهی بی‌خبر
(If) you have an ear, hearken with your own ear: why be dependent on the ears of blockheads?
گوش داری تو به گوش خود شنو ** گوش گولان را چرا باشی گرو
Make a practice of seeing (for yourself) without blindly following any authority: think in accordance with the view of your own reason.
بی ز تقلیدی نظر را پیشه کن ** هم برای عقل خود اندیشه کن
How the Khwárizmsháh, may God have mercy upon him, while riding for pleasure, saw an exceedingly fine horse in his cavalcade; and how the king's heart fell in love with the beauty and elegance of the horse; and how the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk caused the horse to appear undesirable to the king; and how the king preferred his (the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk's) word to his own sight, as the Hakím (Saná’í), may God have mercy upon him, has said in the Iláhí-náma: “When the tongue of envy turns slave-dealer (salesman), you may get a Joseph for an ell of linen.” Owing to the envious feelings of Joseph's brethren when they acted as brokers (in selling him), (even) such a great beauty (as his) was veiled from the heart (perception) of the buyers and he began to seem ugly (to them), for “they (his brethren) were setting little value on him.”
دیدن خوارزمشاه رحمه الله در سیران در موکب خود اسپی بس نادر و تعلق دل شاه به حسن و چستی آن اسپ و سرد کردن عمادالملک آن اسپ را در دل شاه و گزیدن شاه گفت او را بر دید خویش چنانک حکیم رحمةالله علیه در الهی‌نامه فرمود چون زبان حسد شود نخاس یوسفی یابی از گزی کرباس از دلالی برادران یوسف حسودانه در دل مشتریان آن چندان حسن پوشیده شد و زشت نمودن گرفت کی و کانوا فیه من الزاهدین
A certain Amír had a fine horse: there was no equal to it in the Sultan's troop.3345
بود امیری را یکی اسپی گزین ** در گله‌ی سلطان نبودش یک قرین
Early (one morning) he rode out in the royal cavalcade: suddenly the Khwárizmsháh observed the horse.
او سواره گشت در موکب به گاه ** ناگهان دید اسپ را خوارزمشاه
Its beauty and colour enraptured the king's eye: till his return (home) the king's eye was following the horse.
چشم شه را فر و رنگ او ربود ** تا به رجعت چشم شه با اسپ بود
On whichever limb he let his gaze fall, each seemed to him more pleasing than the other.
بر هر آن عضوش که افکندی نظر ** هر یکش خوشتر نمودی زان دگر
Besides elegance and beauty and spiritedness, God had bestowed on it (other) exquisite qualities.
غیر چستی و گشی و روحنت ** حق برو افکنده بد نادر صفت
Then the king's mind sought to discover what it could be that waylaid (and overpowered) his reason,3350
پس تجسس کرد عقل پادشاه ** کین چه باشد که زند بر عقل راه
Saying, “My eye is full and satisfied and wanting naught: it is illumined by two hundred suns.
چشم من پرست و سیرست و غنی ** از دو صد خورشید دارد روشنی
Oh, the rook of (other) kings is (but) a pawn in my sight, (and yet) a demi-horse enraptures me without any justification.
ای رخ شاهان بر من بیذقی ** نیم اسپم در رباید بی حقی
The Creator of witchery has bewitched me: ’tis a (Divine) attraction (exerted upon me), not the peculiar virtues of this (horse).”
جادوی کردست جادو آفرین ** جذبه باشد آن نه خاصیات این
He recited the Fátiha and uttered many a lá hawl, (but) the Fátiha (only) increased the passion in his breast,
فاتحه خواند و بسی لا حول کرد ** فاتحه‌ش در سینه می‌افزود درد
Because the Fátiha itself was drawing him on: the Fátiha is unique in drawing on (good) and averting (evil).3355
زانک او را فاتحه خود می‌کشید ** فاتحه در جر و دفع آمد وحید
If (aught) other (than God) appear (to you), ’tis (the effect of) His illusion; and if (all) other (than God) vanish from sight, ’tis (the effect of) His awakening (you to the reality).
گر نماید غیر هم تمویه اوست ** ور رود غیر از نظر تنبیه اوست
Then it became certain to him (the king) that the attraction was from Yonder: the action of God is producing marvels at every moment.
پس یقین گشتش که جذبه زان سریست ** کار حق هر لحظه نادر آوریست