He was like a father to every one in need: before the Sultan he was an intercessor and the means of averting harm.
بوده هر محتاج را همچون پدر ** پیش سلطان شافع و دفع ضرر
To the wicked he was a covering (to palliate their offences), like the clemency of God: his nature was opposite to (that of other) created beings and apart (from theirs).
مر بدان را ستر چون حلم خدا ** خلق او بر عکس خلقان و جدا
Many a time he would have gone alone to the mountains (in order to seclude himself), (but) the Sultan prevented (dissuaded) him by (making) a hundred humble entreaties.
بارها میشد به سوی کوه فرد ** شاه با صد لابه او را دفع کرد
If at every moment he had interceded for a hundred sins, the Sultan's eye would have been abashed before him.3375
هر دم ار صد جرم را شافع شدی ** چشم سلطان را ازو شرم آمدی
He (the Amír) went to the noble ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk: he bared his head and fell on the ground,
رفت او پیش عماد الملک راد ** سر برهنه کرد و بر خاک اوفتاد
Saying, “Let him (the king) take my harem together with all that I possess! Let any raider seize my (entire) revenue!
که حرم با هر چه دارم گو بگیر ** تا بگیرد حاصلم را هر مغیر
(But) there is this one horse—my soul is devoted to it: if he take it, I will surely die, O lover of good.
این یکی اسپست جانم رهن اوست ** گر برد مردم یقین ای خیردوست
If he take this horse out of my hands, I know for certain that I shall not live (long).
گر برد این اسپ را از دست من ** من یقین دانم نخواهم زیستن
Since God has bestowed (on thee) a (spiritual) connexion (with Himself), stroke my head at once with thy hand, O Messiah!3380
چون خدا پیوستگیی داده است ** بر سرم مال ای مسیحا زود دست
I can bear the loss of my women and gold and estates: this is not pretence nor is it an imposture.
از زن و زر و عقارم صبر هست ** این تکلف نیست نی تزویریست
If thou dost not believe me in this (matter), try me, try me in word and deed!”
اندرین گر مینداری باورم ** امتحان کن امتحان گفت و قدم
Weeping and wiping his eyes, the ‘Imádu ’l-Mulk ran, with agitated mien, into the presence of the Sultan.
آن عمادالملک گریان چشممال ** پیش سلطان در دوید آشفتهحال
He closed his lips and stood before the Sultan, communing with God the Lord of (all) His slaves.
لب ببست و پیش سلطان ایستاد ** راز گویان با خدا رب العباد
He stood and listened to the Sultan's intimate talk, while inwardly his thought was weaving this (prayer)—3385
ایستاده راز سلطان میشنید ** واندرون اندیشهاش این میتنید
“O God, if that young man (the Amír) has gone the wrong way, for ’tis not fitting to make any one except Thee a refuge,
کای خداگر آن جوان کژ رفت راه ** که نشاید ساختن جز تو پناه
(Yet) do Thou act in Thine own (generous) fashion and be not offended with him although he beseech any (poor) prisoner (like me) to deliver him,
تو از آن خود بکن از وی مگیر ** گرچه او خواهد خلاص از هر اسیر
Because all these creatures (of Thine) are in need (of Thee): take (it that) all (are alike in this respect) from a beggar to the Sultan (himself).”
زانک محتاجند این خلقان همه ** از گدایی گیر تا سلطان همه
To seek guidance from candle and wick when the perfect Sun is present,
با حضور آفتاب با کمال ** رهنمایی جستن از شمع و ذبال
To seek light from candle and lamp when the smoothly-rolling Sun is present,3390
با حضور آفتاب خوشمساغ ** روشنایی جستن از شمع و چراغ
Doubtless ’tis irreverence on our part, ’tis ingratitude and an act of self-will,
بیگمان ترک ادب باشد ز ما ** کفر نعمت باشد و فعل هوا
But most minds in (their) thinking are lovers of darkness, like the bat.
لیک اغلب هوشها در افتکار ** همچو خفاشند ظلمت دوستدار
If the bat eats a worm during the night, (yet it is) the Sun (that) fosters the life of the worm.
در شب ار خفاش کرمی میخورد ** کرم را خورشید جان میپرورد
If the bat is intoxicated with (the pleasure of eating) a worm during the night, (yet it is) by the Sun (that) the worm has been caused to move.
در شب ار خفاش از کرمیست مست ** کرم از خورشید جنبنده شدست
The Sun whence radiance gushes forth is giving food to his enemy.3395
آفتابی که ضیا زو میزهد ** دشمن خود را نواله میدهد
But (in the case of) the royal falcon which is not a bat and whose falcon-eye is seeing truly and is clear,
لیک شهبازی که او خفاش نیست ** چشم بازش راستبین و روشنیست
If it, like the bat, seek increase (of sustenance) during the night, the Sun will rub its ear (chastise it) in correction,
گر به شب جوید چو خفاش او نمو ** در ادب خورشید مالد گوش او
And will say to it, “I grant that the perverse bat has an infirmity, (but) anyhow what is the matter with you?
گویدش گیرم که آن خفاش لد ** علتی دارد ترا باری چه شد
I will chastise you severely with affliction, in order that you may not again turn your head away from the Sun.”
مالشت بدهم به زجر از اکتیاب ** تا نتابی سر دگر از آفتاب
How Joseph the Siddíq (truthful witness)—the blessings of God be upon him!—was punished with imprisonment “for several years” because of his seeking help from another than God and saying (to him), “Mention me in thy lord's presence,” together with the exposition thereof.
ماخذهی یوسف صدیق صلواتالله علیه به حبس بضع سنین به سبب یاری خواستن از غیر حق و گفتن اذکرنی عند ربک مع تقریره
That is like Joseph's (asking help) of a (fellow-) prisoner, a needy abject groundling.3400
آنچنان که یوسف از زندانیی ** با نیازی خاضعی سعدانیی
He besought him for help and said, “When you come out (of prison), your affairs will prosper with the king.
خواست یاری گفت چون بیرون روی ** پیش شه گردد امورت مستوی
Make mention of me before the throne of that mighty prince, that he may redeem (release) me also from this prison.”
یاد من کن پیش تخت آن عزیز ** تا مرا هم وا خرد زین حبس نیز
(But) how should a prisoner in captivity give release to another imprisoned man?
کی دهد زندانیی در اقتناص ** مرد زندانی دیگر را خلاص
All the people of this world are prisoners (waiting) in expectation of death in the abode that is passing away;
اهل دنیا جملگان زندانیند ** انتظار مرگ دار فانیند
Except, to be sure, in the rare case of one who is single (fardání), one whose body is in the prison (of this world) and his spirit like Saturn (in the seventh heaven).3405
جز مگر نادر یکی فردانیی ** تن بزندان جان او کیوانیی
Therefore, in retribution for having regarded him (the fellow-prisoner) as a helper, Joseph was left in prison for several years.
پس جزای آنک دید او را معین ** ماند یوسف حبس در بضع سنین
The Devil erased from his mind the recollection of Joseph and removed from his memory those words (which Joseph had spoken).
یاد یوسف دیو از عقلش سترد ** وز دلش دیو آن سخن از یاد برد
In consequence of the sin which proceeded from that man of goodly qualities (Joseph), he was left in prison for several years by the (Divine) Judge,
زین گنه کامد از آن نیکوخصال ** ماند در زندان ز داور چند سال
Who said, “What failure was shown by the Sun of justice that thou shouldst fall, like a bat, into the blackness (of night)?
که چه تقصیر آمد از خورشید داد ** تا تو چون خفاش افتی در سواد
Hark, what failure was shown by the sea and the cloud that thou shouldst seek help from the sand and the mirage?3410
هین چه تقصیر آمد از بحر و سحاب ** تا تو یاری خواهی از ریگ و سراب
If the vulgar are bats by nature and unreal (unspiritual), thou, at least, O Joseph, hast the eye of the falcon.
عام اگر خفاش طبعند و مجاز ** یوسفا داری تو آخر چشم باز
If a bat went into the blind and blue (the world of darkness and misery), (’tis no wonder, but) after all what ailed the falcon that had seen the Sultan?”
گر خفاشی رفت در کور و کبود ** باز سلطان دیده را باری چه بود
Therefore the (Divine) Master punished him for this sin, saying, “Do not make thy prop of rotten wood”;
پس ادب کردش بدین جرم اوستاد ** که مساز از چوب پوسیده عماد
But He caused Joseph to be engrossed with Him, to the end that his heart should not be pained by that imprisonment.
لیک یوسف را به خود مشغول کرد ** تا نیاید در دلش زان حبس درد
God gave him such intimate joy and rapture that neither the prison nor the mirk (of his dungeon) remained (visible) to him.3415
آنچنانش انس و مستی داد حق ** که نه زندان ماند پیشش نه غسق
There is no prison more frightful than the womb—noisome and dark and full of blood and unhealthy;
نیست زندانی وحشتر از رحم ** ناخوش و تاریک و پرخون و وخم
(Yet), when God has opened for you a window in His direction, your body (hidden) in the womb grows more (and more) every moment,
چون گشادت حق دریچه سوی خویش ** در رحم هر دم فزاید تنت بیش
And in that prison, from the immeasurable delight (which you feel therein), the senses blossom happily from the plant, your body.
اندر آن زندان ز ذوق بیقیاس ** خوش شکفت از غرس جسم تو حواس
’Tis grievous to you to go forth from the womb: you are fleeing from her (your mother's) pubes towards her back.
زان رحم بیرون شدن بر تو درشت ** میگریزی از زهارش سوی پشت
Know that the way of (spiritual) pleasure is from within, not from without: know that it is folly to seek palaces and castles.3420
راه لذت از درون دان نه از برون ** ابلهی دان جستن قصر و حصون
One man is enraptured and delighted in the nook of a mosque, while another is morose and disappointed in a garden.
آن یکی در کنج مسجد مست و شاد ** وآن دگر در باغ ترش و بیمراد