نه ز بغداد و نه موصل نه طراز ** در کشی در نی و نی راه دراز
Not from Baghdád and not from Mosul and not from Tiráz’: you will draw out a long journey in (saying) ‘not’ and ‘not.’
خود بگو من از کجاام باز ره ** هست تنقیح مناط اینجا بله
Just say where you come from and escape (from further discussion): in this case it is folly to elaborate the point at issue.
یا بپرسیدم چه خوردی ناشتاب ** تو بگویی نه شراب و نه کباب
Or (suppose) I asked, ‘What had you for breakfast?’ you would say, ‘Not wine and not roast-meat,
نه قدید و نه ثرید و نه عدس ** آنچ خوردی آن بگو تنها و بس
Not qadíd and not tharíd and not lentils’: tell me what you did eat, only (that) and no more.
این سخن‌خایی دراز از بهر چیست ** گفت مطرب زانک مقصودم خفیست 720
Wherefore is this long palaver?” “Because,” said the minstrel, “my object is recondite.
می‌رمد اثبات پیش از نفی تو ** نفی کردم تا بری ز اثبات بو
Before (until) you deny (all else), affirmation (of God) evades (you): I denied (everything) in order that you might get a scent of (perceive the means of attaining to) affirmation.
در نوا آرم بنفی این ساز را ** چون بمیری مرگ گوید راز را
I play the tune of negation: when you die, death will declare the mystery.
تفسیر قوله علیه‌السلام موتوا قبل ان تموتوا بمیر ای دوست پیش از مرگ اگر می زندگی خواهی کی ادریس از چنین مردن بهشتی گشت پیش از ما
[Commentary on his (the Prophet's) saying—peace be upon him!— ‘Die before ye die.’ ‘O friend, die before thy death if thou desirest life; for by so dying Idrís became a dweller in Paradise before (the rest of) us.’]
جان بسی کندی و اندر پرده‌ای ** زانک مردن اصل بد ناورده‌ای
You have suffered much agony, but you are (still) in the veil, because dying (to self) was the fundamental principle, and you have not fulfilled it.
تا نمیری نیست جان کندن تمام ** بی‌کمال نردبان نایی به بام
Your agony is not finished till you die: you cannot reach the roof without completing the ladder.
چون ز صد پایه دو پایه کم بود ** بام را کوشنده نامحرم بود 725
When two rungs out of a hundred are wanting, the striver will be forbidden to (set foot on) the roof.