اعجمی ترکی سحر آگاه شد ** وز خمار خمر مطرب‌خواه شد
A barbarian Turk came to his senses at dawn and, (suffering) from crop-sickness caused by wine, desired the minstrel (to divert him).
مطرب جان مونس مستان بود ** نقل و قوت و قوت مست آن بود
The spiritual minstrel is the bosom-friend of those intoxicated (with God): he is the dessert and food and strength of the drunken.
مطرب ایشان را سوی مستی کشید ** باز مستی از دم مطرب چشید 645
The minstrel led them on to intoxication; then again, he (the intoxicated one) quaffed intoxication from the song of the minstrel.
آن شراب حق بدان مطرب برد ** وین شراب تن ازین مطرب چرد
That one (the mystic) fetches God's wine (to drink) because of that (spiritual) minstrel, while this one (the sensualist) imbibes the bodily wine from this (sensual) minstrel.
هر دو گر یک نام دارد در سخن ** لیک شتان این حسن تا آن حسن
Though both (minstrels) have one name in discourse, yet there is a vast difference between this Hasan and that Hasan.
اشتباهی هست لفظی در بیان ** لیک خود کو آسمان تا ریسمان
There is a verbal resemblance in enunciation, but what (real) relation has heaven (ásmán) to a rope (rísmán)?
اشتراک لفظ دایم ره‌زنست ** اشتراک گبر و مؤمن در تنست
The participation of a word (in several meanings) is always obstructive (to the understanding): the participation of the infidel with the true believer is in the body (alone).
جسمها چون کوزه‌های بسته‌سر ** تا که در هر کوزه چه بود آن نگر 650
Bodies are like pots with the lids on: look and see what is in each pot.
کوزه‌ی آن تن پر از آب حیات ** کوزه‌ی این تن پر از زهر ممات
The pot of that body is filled with the Water of Life; the pot of this body is filled with the poison of death.
گر به مظروفش نظر داری شهی ** ور به ظرفش بنگری تو گم‌رهی
If you keep your eye fixed on its contents, you are a (spiritual) king; but if you regard its vessel, you are misguided.
لفظ را ماننده‌ی این جسم دان ** معنیش را در درون مانند جان
Know that words resemble this body and that their inward meaning resembles the soul.
دیده‌ی تن دایما تن‌بین بود ** دیده‌ی جان جان پر فن بین بود
The bodily eye is always seeing the body; the spiritual eye sees the artful (elusive) soul.
پس ز نقش لفظهای مثنوی ** صورتی ضالست و هادی معنوی 655
Therefore the man of appearance is misled by the form of the expressions used in the Mathnawí, while they guide the man of reality (to the Truth).
در نبی فرمود کین قرآن ز دل ** هادی بعضی و بعضی را مضل
He (God) hath said in the Qur’án, “This Qur’án with all its heart leads some aright and others astray.”
الله الله چونک عارف گفت می ** پیش عارف کی بود معدوم شی
God, God! When the gnostic speaks of “wine,” how in the gnostic's eyes should the (materially) non-existent be a (material) thing?
فهم تو چون باده‌ی شیطان بود ** کی ترا وهم می رحمان بود
Since your understanding is (only of) the Devil's wine, how should you have any conception of the wine of the Merciful (God)?
این دو انبازند مطرب با شراب ** این بدان و آن بدین آرد شتاب
These twain—the minstrel and the wine—are partners: this one quickly leads to that, and that one to this.
پر خماران از دم مطرب چرند ** مطربانشان سوی میخانه برند 660
They that are full of crop-sickness feed on the song of the minstrel: the minstrels bring them to the tavern.
آن سر میدان و این پایان اوست ** دل شده چون گوی در چوگان اوست
That one (the minstrel) is the beginning of the (lover's) course, and this (tavern) is the end thereof: the witless (lover) is like a ball in (the sway of) his polo-bat.
در سر آنچ هست گوش آنجا رود ** در سر ار صفراست آن سودا شود
The ear goes (inclines) to that which is in the head: if there is yellow bile in the head, it becomes black bile.
بعد از آن این دو به بیهوشی روند ** والد و مولود آنجا یک شوند
Afterwards, these twain (the minstrel and the lover) pass into unconsciousness: there the begetter and the begotten become one.
چونک کردند آشتی شادی و درد ** مطربان را ترک ما بیدار کرد
When joy and sorrow made peace (with each other), our Turk awakened the minstrels.
مطرب آغازید بیتی خوابناک ** که انلنی الکاس یا من لا اراک 665
The minstrel began (to sing) a slumberous verse—“Hand me the cup, O Thou whom I see not.
انت وجهی لا عجب ان لا اراه ** غایة القرب حجاب الاشتباه
Thou art my face: no wonder that I see it not: extreme proximity is a mystifying veil.
انت عقلی لا عجب ان لم ارک ** من وفور الالتباس المشتبک
Thou art my reason: no wonder if I see Thee not, on account of the abundance of the intricate perplexities (of thought).