(He was) well acquainted with the burning and flaming (passion) of those who came to his court, (but) in his wisdom he had ignored them and kept silence.
واقف از سوز و لهیب آن وفود ** مصلحت آن بد که خشک آورده بود
That exalted (monarch) was in the midst (depths) of their souls, but he had purposely feigned to be unfamiliar (with them).
در میان جانشان بود آن سمی ** لک قاصد کرده خود را اعجمی
The form (appearance) of the fire is beneath the kettle; the spirit (reality) of the fire is in the soul of the kettle.
صورت آتش بود پایان دیگ ** معنی آتش بود در جان دیگ
Its form is outside and its spirit inside: the spirit (real nature) of the soul's Beloved is (in the soul) like blood in the veins.4400
صورتش بیرون و معنیش اندرون ** معنی معشوق جان در رگ چو خون
The prince knelt before the King, (while) ten announcers gave a description of his state.
شاه‌زاده پیش شه زانو زده ** ده معرف شارح حالش شده
Although the King knew it all long ago, yet the announcer was performing the duties of his office.
گرچه شه عارف بد از کل پیش پیش ** لیک می‌کردی معرف کار خویش
O sincere man, a single atom of the light of (mystic) knowledge within (thee) is better than a hundred announcers.
در درون یک ذره نور عارفی ** به بود از صد معرف ای صفی
To confine one's attention to the announcer is a mark of being debarred (from access to real knowledge) and of (being preoccupied with) conjecture and (mere) opinion.
گوش را رهن معرف داشتن ** آیت محجوبیست و حزر و ظن
He whose scout is his inward eye—his eye will behold with the very acme of clairvoyance.4405
آنک او را چشم دل شد دیدبان ** دید خواهد چشم او عین العیان
His soul is not content with traditional authority; nay, his feeling of (absolute) certainty comes from the inward eye.
با تواتر نیست قانع جان او ** بل ز چشم دل رسد ایقان او
Then the announcer opened his lips to describe his (the eldest brother's) plight in the presence of the elect King.
پس معرف پیش شاه منتجب ** در بیان حال او بگشود لب
He said, “O King, he is fallen a prey to thy beneficence: show kingly favour (to him), for he has no means of escape.
گفت شاها صید احسان توست ** پادشاهی کن که بی بیرون شوست
He has clutched the saddle-strap of this empire: stroke his distraught head with thy (royal) hand!”
دست در فتراک این دولت زدست ** بر سر سرمست او بر مال دست
The King replied, “This youth will obtain (from me) every high dignity and sovereignty that he seeks.4410
گفت شه هر منصبی و ملکتی ** که التماسش هست یابد این فتی
I will bestow on him here (and now) twenty times as many kingdoms as he has relinquished, and myself into the bargain.”
بیست چندان ملک کو شد زان بری ** بخشمش اینجا و ما خود بر سری
He (the announcer) said, “Since thy royal majesty sowed in him the seed of love, how could it leave (in him) any passion except passion for thee?
گفت تا شاهیت در وی عشق کاشت ** جز هوای تو هوایی کی گذاشت
’Tis so agreeable to him to be thy slave that kingship has become cold comfort to his heart.
بندگی تش چنان درخورد شد ** که شهی اندر دل او سرد شد
He has gambled away kingship and princedom: for thy sake he has put up with living in exile.
شاهی و شه‌زادگی در باختست ** از پی تو در غریبی ساختست
He is a Súfí: he has flung away his mantle in ecstasy: how should he turn again to his mantle?4415
صوفیست انداخت خرقه وجد در ** کی رود او بر سر خرقه دگر
To hanker for the given away mantle and repent (of having given it) is as much as to say, ‘I have been swindled:
میل سوی خرقه‌ی داده و ندم ** آنچنان باشد که من مغبون شدم
Put the mantle back here, O comrade, for that (ecstasy) was not worth it, that is, (not worth) this (mantle).’
باز ده آن خرقه این سو ای قرین ** که نمی‌ارزید آن یعنی بدین
Far be it from a lover that such a thought should occur to him; and if it do, dust ought to be (sprinkled) on his head.
دور از عاشق که این فکر آیدش ** ور بیاید خاک بر سر بایدش
Love is worth a hundred mantles like that of the body, which contains a (principle of) life and sensation and reason;
عشق ارزد صد چو خرقه کالبد ** که حیاتی دارد و حس و خرد
Especially the mantle of worldly dominion, which is cut short (exiguous): a pennyworth of intoxication with it is (results in) headache.4420
خاصه خرقه‌ی ملک دنیا کابترست ** پنج دانگ مستیش درد سرست
Worldly dominion is lawful (only) to those who indulge the body: we (lovers) are devoted to the everlasting kingdom of Love.
ملک دنیا تن‌پرستان را حلال ** ما غلام ملک عشق بی‌زوال
He (the prince) is Love's agent: do not deprive him of his employment, do not let him be employed in aught but loving thee.
عامل عشقست معزولش مکن ** جز به عشق خویش مشغولش مکن
The office (business) that veils me from (the sight of) thy face is the very essence of unemployment, though it is called ‘office.’
The cause of (his) delay in coming hither was lack of capability and defect of skill.”
موجب تاخیر اینجا آمدن ** فقد استعداد بود و ضعف فن
(If) you go into a mine without (having) capability, you will not gain possession of a single grain (of gold),4425
بی ز استعداد در کانی روی ** بر یکی حبه نگردی محتوی
Tanquam vir veneri inhabilis qui virginem emit: ea, etsi pectus argenteum (candidum) sit, frui quo pacto poterit? [Like an impotent man who buys a virgin (for a slave): even if she is a silver-breasted (beauty), how can he enjoy (her sexually)?]
هم‌چو عنینی که بکری را خرد ** گرچه سیمین‌بر بود کی بر خورد
(The incapable man is) like a lamp without oil or wick that gets neither much nor little from the (flaming) taper.
چون چراغی بی ز زیت و بی فتیل ** نه کثیرستش ز شمع و نه قلیل
(If) one who cannot smell enter a garden, how should his brain (nose) be delighted by the fragrant herbs?—
در گلستان اندر آید اخشمی ** کی شود مغزش ز ریحان خرمی
Tanquam formosa et venusta hospita viri debilis; (and) like the sound of a harp or lute in the ears of the deaf; [Like a beautiful (and) charming woman (who is) the guest of a feeble (impotent) man; (and like) the sound of a harp or lute in the ears of the deaf;]
هم‌چو خوبی دلبری مهمان غر ** بانگ چنگ و بربطی در پیش کر
(And) like the land-bird that falls into great waters: what should it find there but death and perdition?4430
هم‌چو مرغ خاک که آید در بحار ** زان چه یابد جز هلاک و جز خسار
(And) like one who, having no wheat, goes to a mill: nothing will be given to him except the whitening of his beard and hair (with flour).
هم‌چو بی‌گندم شده در آسیا ** جز سپیدی ریش و مو نبود عطا
The celestial mill bestows on those who have no wheat (only) whiteness of hair and weakness in the loins;
آسیای چرخ بر بی‌گندمان ** موسپیدی بخشد و ضعف میان
But on those who bring wheat with them this mill bestows empire and gives them sovereign power.
لیک با باگندمان این آسیا ** ملک‌بخش آمد دهد کار و کیا
You must first be qualified for Paradise in order that from Paradise the (everlasting) life may be born to you.
اول استعداد جنت بایدت ** تا ز جنت زندگانی زایدت
What pleasure has the new-born child in wine and roast-meat and palaces and domes?4435
طفل نو را از شراب و از کباب ** چه حلاوت وز قصور و از قباب
These parables have no limit: do not seek (more) words (of this kind): go and acquire capability!
حد ندارد این مثل کم جو سخن ** تو برو تحصیل استعداد کن
(The announcer said), “He tarried until now for the sake of capability (qualification), (but) ere it was acquired his longing burst (all) bounds.”
بهر استعداد تا اکنون نشست ** شوق از حد رفت و آن نامد به دست
He (the prince) said, “Capability too is imparted by the King: how should the body be made capable without (the intervention of) the soul?”
گفت استعداد هم از شه رسد ** بی ز جان کی مستعد گردد جسد
(Then) the favours of the King did away with his anguish: he had gone to hunt the King: he became the King's prey.
لطف‌های شه غمش را در نوشت ** شد که صید شه کند او صید گشت
(The announcer said), “Whosoever goes in chase of a quarry like thee does not catch his quarry till he is himself caught.”4440
هر که در اشکار چون تو صید شد ** صید را ناکرده قید او قید شد
’Tis certain that every seeker of princedom is thrown into captivity before (he gains) it.
هرکه جویای امیری شد یقین ** پیش از آن او در اسیری شد رهین
Know that what is depicted on this mundane frontispiece is preposterous: every slave to the world is named “lord of the world.”
عکس می‌دان نقش دیباجه‌ی جهان ** نام هر بنده‌ی جهان خواجه‌ی جهان
O wrong-thinking perversely-acting body, thou that hast enthralled a hundred thousand freemen,
ای تن کژ فکرت معکوس‌رو ** صد هزار آزاد را کرده گرو
Abandon this guileful plotting for a time: live free a few moments ere thou die;
مدتی بگذار این حیلت پزی ** چند دم پیش از اجل آزاد زی
For if, like the (heavily-laden) ass, thou hast no way of attaining to freedom, thy movement, like that of the bucket, can only be (down) into the well.4445
ور در آزادیت چون خر راه نیست ** هم‌چو دلوت سیر جز در چاه نیست
Go, take leave of my spirit for awhile: go, seek another companion instead of me.