If one form seek perfection from another form, ’tis the quintessence of error.
صورتی از صورت دیگر کمال ** گر بجوید باشد آن عین ضلال
Why, then, O worthless man, are you submitting your need to another needy (creature)?
پس چه عرضه می‌کنی ای بی‌گهر ** احتیاج خود به محتاجی دگر
Inasmuch as (all) forms are slaves (to God), do not say or deem that form is applicable to God: do not seek Him by tashbíh (likening Him to His creatures).
چون صور بنده‌ست بر یزدان مگو ** ظن مبر صورت به تشبیهش مجو
Seek (Him) in self-abasement and in self-extinction, for nothing but forms is produced by thinking.
در تضرع جوی و در افنای خویش ** کز تفکر جز صور ناید به پیش
And if you derive no advantage (comfort) except from form, (then) the form that comes to birth within you involuntarily is the best.3750
ور ز غیر صورتت نبود فره ** صورتی کان بی‌تو زاید در تو به
(Suppose it is) the form of a city to which you are going: you are drawn (thither) by a formless feeling of pleasure, O dependent one;
صورت شهری که آنجا می‌روی ** ذوق بی‌صورت کشیدت ای روی
Therefore you are really going to that which has no locality, for pleasure is (something) different from place and time.
پس به معنی می‌روی تا لامکان ** که خوشی غیر مکانست و زمان
(Suppose it is) the form of a friend to whom you would go: you are going for the sake of enjoying his society;
صورت یاری که سوی او شوی ** از برای مونسی‌اش می‌روی
Therefore in reality you go to the formless (world), though you are unaware of that (being the) object (of your journey).
پس بمعنی سوی بی‌صورت شدی ** گرچه زان مقصود غافل آمدی
In truth, then, God is worshipped by all, since (all) wayfaring is for the sake of the pleasure (of which He is the source).3755
پس حقیقت حق بود معبود کل ** کز پی ذوقست سیران سبل
But some have set their face towards the tail and have lost the Head, although the Head is the principal;
لیک بعضی رو سوی دم کرده‌اند ** گرچه سر اصلست سر گم کرده‌اند
But (nevertheless) that Head is bestowing on these lost and erring ones the bounty proper to Headship by way of the tail.
لیک آن سر پیش این ضالان گم ** می‌دهد داد سری از راه دم
That one obtains the bounty from the Head, this one from the tail; another company (of mystics) have lost (both) foot and head.
آن ز سر می‌یابد آن داد این ز دم ** قوم دیگر پا و سر کردند گم
Since all has been lost, they have gained all: through dwindling away (to naught) they have sped towards the Whole.
چونک گم شد جمله جمله یافتند ** از کم آمد سوی کل بشتافتند
How in the pavilion of the fortress adorned with pictures they (the princes) saw a portrait of the daughter of the King of China and how all three lost their senses and fell into distraction and made inquiries, asking, “Whose portrait is this?”
دیدن ایشان در قصر این قلعه‌ی ذات الصور نقش روی دختر شاه چین را و بیهوش شدن هر سه و در فتنه افتادن و تفحص کردن کی این صورت کیست
This topic is endless. The company (of three) espied a beauteous and majestic portrait.3760
این سخن پایان ندارد آن گروه ** صورتی دیدند با حسن و شکوه
The (travelling) party had seen (pictures) more beautiful than that, but at (the sight of) this one they were plunged in the deep sea,
خوب‌تر زان دیده بودند آن فریق ** لیک زین رفتند در بحر عمیق
Because opium came to them in this cup: the cups are visible, but the opium is unseen.
The fortress, (named) the destroyer of reason, wrought its work: it cast them, all three, into the pit of tribulation.
کرد فعل خویش قلعه‌ی هش‌ربا ** هر سه را انداخت در چاه بلا
Without a bow the arrow-like glances (of Love) pierce the heart—mercy, mercy, O merciless one!
تیر غمزه دوخت دل را بی‌کمان ** الامان و الامان ای بی‌امان
(Adoration of) a stone image consumed the (past) generations and kindled a fire (of love for it) in their religion and their hearts.3765
قرنها را صورت سنگین بسوخت ** آتشی در دین و دلشان بر فروخت
When it (the image) is spiritual, how (ravishing) must it be! Its fascination changes at every moment.
چونک روحانی بود خود چون بود ** فتنه‌اش هر لحظه دیگرگون بود
Since love of the pictured form was stabbing the hearts of the princes like a spear-point,
عشق صورت در دل شه‌زادگان ** چون خلش می‌کرد مانند سنان
Each (of them) was shedding tears, like a cloud, and gnawing his hands and crying, “Oh, alas!
اشک می‌بارید هر یک هم‌چو میغ ** دست می‌خایید و می‌گفت ای دریغ
Now we see (what) the King saw at the beginning. How often did that peerless one adjure us!”
ما کنون دیدیم شه ز آغاز دید ** چندمان سوگند داد آن بی‌ندید
The prophets have conferred a great obligation (on us) because they have made us aware of the end,3770
انبیا را حق بسیارست از آن ** که خبر کردند از پایانمان
Saying, “That which thou art sowing will produce naught but thorns; and (if) thou fly in this (worldly) direction thou wilt find there no room to fly (beyond).
کاینچ می‌کاری نروید جز که خار ** وین طرف پری نیابی زو مطار
Get the seed from me, that it may yield a (good) crop; fly with my wings, that the arrow may speed Yonder.
تخم از من بر که تا ریعی دهد ** با پر من پر که تیر آن سو جهد
(If) thou dost not recognise the necessity and (real) existence of that (flight to God), yet in the end thou wilt confess that it was necessary.”
تو ندانی واجبی آن و هست ** هم تو گویی آخر آن واجب بدست
He (the prophet) is thou, but not this (unreal) “thou”: (he is) that “thou” which in the end is conscious of escape (from the world of illusion).
او توست اما نه این تو آن توست ** که در آخر واقف بیرون‌شوست
Thy last (unreal) “thou” has come to thy first (real) “thou” to receive admonition and gifts.3775
توی آخر سوی توی اولت ** آمدست از بهر تنبیه و صلت
Thy (real) “thou” is buried in another (unreal “thou”): I am the (devoted) slave of a man who thus (truly) sees himself.
توی تو در دیگری آمد دفین ** من غلام مرد خودبینی چنین
That which the youth sees in the mirror the Elder sees beforehand in the (crude iron) brick.
آنچ در آیینه می‌بیند جوان ** پیر اندر خشت بیند بیش از آن
(The princes said), “We have transgressed the command of our King, we have rebelled against the favours of our father.
ز امر شاه خویش بیرون آمدیم ** با عنایات پدر یاغی شدیم
We have lightly esteemed the King's word and those incomparable favours.
سهل دانستیم قول شاه را ** وان عنایت‌های بی اشباه را
Lo, we all are fallen into the moat, killed and wounded by affliction without combat.3780
نک در افتادیم در خندق همه ** کشته و خسته‌ی بلا بی ملحمه
We relied on our own intelligence and wisdom, so that this tribulation has come to pass.
تکیه بر عقل خود و فرهنگ خویش ** بودمان تا این بلا آمد به پیش
We regarded ourselves as being without disease and emancipated (from fear of death), just as one suffering from phthisis regards himself.
بی‌مرض دیدیم خویش و بی ز رق ** آنچنان که خویش را بیمار دق
Now, after we have been made prisoners and a prey, the hidden malady has become apparent.”
علت پنهان کنون شد آشکار ** بعد از آنک بند گشتیم و شکار
The shadow (protection) of the (spiritual) Guide is better than praising God (by one's self): a single (feeling of) contentment is better than a hundred viands and trays (of food).
سایه‌ی رهبر بهست از ذکر حق ** یک قناعت به که صد لوت و طبق
A seeing eye is better than three hundred (blind men's) staves: the eye knows (can distinguish) pearls from pebbles.3785
چشم بینا بهتر از سیصد عصا ** چشم بشناسد گهر را از حصا
(Moved) by sorrows (pains of love) they began to make inquiry, saying, “Who in the world, we wonder, is she of whom this is the portrait?”
در تفحص آمدند از اندهان ** صورت کی بود عجب این در جهان
After much inquiry in (the course of their) travel, a Shaykh endowed with insight disclosed the mystery,
بعد بسیاری تفحص در مسیر ** کشف کرد آن راز را شیخی بصیر
Not (verbally) by way of the ear, but (silently) by inspiration (derived) from Reason: to him (all) mysteries were unveiled.
نه از طریق گوش بل از وحی هوش ** رازها بد پیش او بی روی‌پوش
He said, “This is the portrait of (her who is) an object of envy to the Pleiades: this is the picture of the Princess of China.
گفت نقش رشک پروینست این ** صورت شه‌زاده‌ی چینست این
She is hidden like the spirit and like the embryo: she is (kept) in a secret bower and palace.3790
هم‌چو جان و چون جنین پنهانست او ** در مکتم پرده و ایوانست او
Neither man nor woman is admitted to her (presence): the King has concealed her on account of her fascinations.
سوی او نه مرد ره دارد نه زن ** شاه پنهان کرد او را از فتن
The King has a (great) jealousy for her (good) name, so that not even a bird flies above her roof.”
غیرتی دارد ملک بر نام او ** که نپرد مرغ هم بر بام او
Alas for the heart that such an insane passion has stricken: may no one feel a passion like this!
وای آن دل کش چنین سودا فتاد ** هیچ کس را این چنین سودا مباد
This is the retribution due to him who sowed the seed of ignorance and held light and cheap that (precious) counsel,
این سزای آنک تخم جهل کاشت ** وآن نصیحت را کساد و سهل داشت
And put a (great) trust in his own management, saying, “By dint of intelligence I will carry my affair to success.”3795
اعتمادی کرد بر تدبیر خویش ** که برم من کار خود با عقل پیش