وان قد صف در نازان چون سنان ** گشته در پیری دو تا هم‌چون کمان 970
And the tall proud figure, piercing the ranks like a spear-point, in old age is bent double like a bow.
رنگ لاله گشته رنگ زعفران ** زور شیرش گشته چون زهره‌ی زنان
The colour of red anemone becomes the colour of saffron; his lion-like strength becomes as the courage of women.
آنک مردی در بغل کردی به فن ** می‌بگیرندش بغل وقت شدن
He that used to grip a man in his arms by skill (in wrestling), (now) they take hold of his arms (to support him) at the time of departure.
این خود آثار غم و پژمردگیست ** هر یکی زینها رسول مردگیست
Truly these are marks of pain and decay: every one of them is a messenger of death.
تفسیر اسفل سافلین الا الذین آمنوا و عملوا الصالحات فلهم اجر غیر مومنون
Commentary on “The lowest of the low, except those who have believed and wrought good works; for they shall have a reward that is not cut off.”
لیک گر باشد طبیبش نور حق ** نیست از پیری و تب نقصان و دق
But if his physician be the Light of God, there is no loss or crushing blow (that he will suffer) from old age and fever.
سستی او هست چون سستی مست ** که اندر آن سستیش رشک رستمست 975
His weakness is like the weakness of the intoxicated, for in his weakness he is the envy of a Rustam.
گر بمیرد استخوانش غرق ذوق ** ذره ذره‌ش در شعاع نور شوق
If he die, his bones are drowned in (spiritual) savour; every mote of him is (floating) in the beams of the light of love-desire.
وآنک آنش نیست باغ بی‌ثمر ** که خزانش می‌کند زیر و زبر
And he who hath not that (Light) is an orchard without fruit, which the autumn brings to ruin.
گل نماند خارها ماند سیاه ** زرد و بی‌مغز آمده چون تل کاه
The roses remain not; (only) the black thorns remain: it becomes pale and pithless like a heap of straw.
تا چه زلت کرد آن باغ ای خدا ** که ازو این حله‌ها گردد جدا
O God, I wonder what fault did that orchard commit, that these (beautiful) robes should be stripped from it.
خویشتن را دید و دید خویشتن ** زهر قتالست هین ای ممتحن 980
“It paid regard to itself, and self-regard is a deadly poison. Beware, O thou who art put to the trial!”
شاهدی کز عشق او عالم گریست ** عالمش می‌راند از خود جرم چیست
The minion for love of whom the world wept—the world (now) is repulsing him from itself: what is (his) crime?
جرم آنک زیور عاریه بست ** کرد دعوی کین حلل ملک منست
“The crime is that he put on a borrowed adornment and pretended that these robes were his own property.
واستانیم آن که تا داند یقین ** خرمن آن ماست خوبان دانه‌چین
We take them back, in order that he may know for sure that the stack is Ours and the fair ones are (only) gleaners;
تا بداند کان حلل عاریه بود ** پرتوی بود آن ز خورشید وجود
That he may know that those robes were a loan: ’twas a ray from the Sun of Being.”
آن جمال و قدرت و فضل و هنر ** ز آفتاب حسن کرد این سو سفر 985
(All) that beauty and power and virtue and knowledge have journeyed hither from the Sun of Excellence.
باز می‌گردند چون استارها ** نور آن خورشید ازین دیوارها
They, the light of that Sun, turn back again, like the stars, from these (bodily) walls.
پرتو خورشید شد وا جایگاه ** ماند هر دیوار تاریک و سیاه
(When) the Sunbeam has gone home, every wall is left dark and black.
آنک کرد او در رخ خوبانت دنگ ** نور خورشیدست از شیشه‌ی سه رنگ
That which made thee amazed at the faces of the fair is the Light of the Sun (reflected) from the three-coloured glass.
شیشه‌های رنگ رنگ آن نور را ** می‌نمایند این چنین رنگین بما
The glasses of diverse hue cause that Light to seem coloured like this to us.
چون نماند شیشه‌های رنگ‌رنگ ** نور بی‌رنگت کند آنگاه دنگ 990
When the many-coloured glasses are no more, then the colourless Light makes thee amazed.
خوی کن بی‌شیشه دیدن نور را ** تا چو شیشه بشکند نبود عمی
Make it thy habit to behold the Light without the glass, in order that when the glass is shattered there may not be blindness (in thee).
قانعی با دانش آموخته ** در چراغ غیر چشم افروخته
Thou art content with knowledge learned (from others): thou hast lit thine eye at another's lamp.
او چراغ خویش برباید که تا ** تو بدانی مستعیری نی‌فتا
He takes away his lamp, that thou mayst know thou art a borrower, not a giver.
گر تو کردی شکر و سعی مجتهد ** غم مخور که صد چنان بازت دهد
If thou hast rendered thanks (to God for what thou hast received) and made the utmost exertion (in doing so), be not grieved (at its loss), for He will give (thee) a hundred such (gifts) in return;