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پشه کی داند که این باغ از کی است ** کاو بهاران زاد و مرگش در دی است
- How should the gnat know of what date this garden is?––for ‘twas born in spring, and its death is in the (following) winter.
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کرم کاندر چوب زاید سست حال ** کی بداند چوب را وقت نهال
- The worm that is born miserably in (dry) wood––how should it know the wood at the time when it was a (sappy) shoot?
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ور بداند کرم از ماهیتش ** عقل باشد کرم باشد صورتش
- And if the worm should know (this), it would be intellect in its essential substance; the worm would be (only) its (outward) form.
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عقل خود را مینماید رنگها ** چون پری دور است از آن فرسنگها
- Intellect shows itself (in many) guises, (but) like the Jinn is leagues removed from them (in its real nature).
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از ملک بالاست چه جای پری ** تو مگس پری به پستی میپری 2325
- It is above the angels––what occasion is there for (comparing it with) the Jinn? (But) you have the wings of a gnat, you are flying downwards.
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گر چه عقلت سوی بالا میپرد ** مرغ تقلیدت به پستی میچرد
- Although your intellect is flying upward, the bird of your conventional notions is feeding below.
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علم تقلیدی وبال جان ماست ** عاریه ست و ما نشسته کان ماست
- Conventional knowledge is the bane of our souls; it is a borrowed thing, but we rest (at ease in the belief) that it is ours.
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زین خرد جاهل همی باید شدن ** دست در دیوانگی باید زدن
- It behoves us to become ignorant of this (worldly) wisdom; (rather) must we clutch at madness.
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هر چه بینی سود خود ز آن میگریز ** زهر نوش و آب حیوان را بریز
- Always flee from whatever you deem profitable to your (lower) self: drink poison and spill the water of life.
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هر که بستاند ترا دشنام ده ** سود و سرمایه به مفلس وام ده 2330
- Revile any one that praises you: lend (both) interest and capital to the destitute.
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ایمنی بگذار و جای خوف باش ** بگذر از ناموس و رسوا باش و فاش
- Let safety go, and dwell in the place of fear (danger): leave reputation behind and be disgraced and notorious.
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آزمودم عقل دور اندیش را ** بعد از این دیوانه سازم خویش را
- I have tried far-thinking (provident) intellect; henceforth I will make myself mad.
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عذر گفتن دلقک با سید که چرا فاحشه را نکاح کرد
- How Dalqak excused himself to the Sayyid-i Ajall (who asked him) why he had married a harlot.
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گفت با دلقک شبی سید اجل ** قحبهای را خواستی تو از عجل
- One night the Sayyid-i Ajall said to Dalqak, “You have married a harlot in haste.
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با من این را باز میبایست گفت ** تا یکی مستور کردیمیت جفت
- You ought to have disclosed this (matter) to me, so that we might have made a chaste (woman) your wife.”
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گفت نه مستور صالح خواستم ** قحبه گشتند و ز غم تن کاستم 2335
- Dalqak replied, “I have (already) married nine chaste and virtuous women: they became harlots, and I wasted away with grief.
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خواستم این قحبه را بیمعرفت ** تا ببینم چون شود این عاقبت
- I married this harlot without (previous) acquaintance (with her), in order to see how this one (also) would turn out in the end.
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عقل را من آزمودم هم بسی ** زین سپس جویم جنون را مغرسی
- Often have I tried (sound) intelligence; henceforth I will seek a nursery for insanity.”
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به حیلت در سخن آوردن سائل آن بزرگ را که خود را دیوانه ساخته بود
- How an inquirer managed to draw into conversation an eminent (saintly) man who had feigned to be mad.
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آن یکی میگفت خواهم عاقلی ** مشورت آرم بدو در مشکلی
- A certain man was saying, “I want some one of intelligence, (that) I may consult him about a difficulty.”
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آن یکی گفتش که اندر شهر ما ** نیست عاقل جز که آن مجنوننما
- One said to him, “In our city there is nobody of intelligence except yonder man who appears to be mad.
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بر نیی گشته سواره نک فلان ** میدواند در میان کودکان 2340
- Look, there is (one named) so-and-so: mounted on a cane, he rides (it as a cock-horse) amongst the children.
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صاحب رای است و آتش پارهای ** آسمان قدر است و اختر بارهای
- He is possessed of judgment and (keen as) a spark of fire; he is as the sky in dignity, and as the stars in high estate.
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فر او کروبیان را جان شده ست ** او در این دیوانگی پنهان شده ست
- His glory has become the (rational) soul of the Cherubim; he has become concealed in this (feigned) madness.”
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لیک هر دیوانه را جان نشمری ** سر منه گوساله را چون سامری
- But you must not account every madman a (rational) soul: do not, like Sámirí, lay down your head (in worship) to a calf.
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چون ولیی آشکارا با تو گفت ** صد هزاران غیب و اسرار نهفت
- When a manifest saint has declared unto you hundreds of thousands of unseen things and hidden mysteries,
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مر ترا آن فهم و آن دانش نبود ** واندانستی تو سرگین را ز عود 2345
- And you have not had the (proper) understanding and knowledge, (so that) you have not distinguished dung from aloes-wood—
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از جنون خود را ولی چون پرده ساخت ** مر و را ای کور کی خواهی شناخت
- How, when the saint has made for himself a veil of madness, will you recognise him, O blind one?
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گر ترا باز است آن دیدهی یقین ** زیر هر سنگی یکی سرهنگ بین
- If your eye of intuitive certainty is open, behold a (spiritual) captain under every stone.
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پیش آن چشمی که باز و رهبر است ** هر گلیمی را کلیمی در بر است
- To the eye that is open and (as) a guide, every dervish-cloak hath a Moses in its embrace.
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مر ولی را هم ولی شهره کند ** هر که را او خواست با بهره کند
- ’Tis only the saint (himself) that makes the saint known and makes fortunate whomsoever he will.
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کس نداند از خرد او را شناخت ** چون که او مر خویش را دیوانه ساخت 2350
- No one can recognise him by means of wisdom when he has feigned to be mad.
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چون بدزدد دزد بینایی ز کور ** هیچ یابد دزد را او در عبور
- When a seeing thief steals from a blind man, can he at all detect (the identity of) the thief (who is) in the act of passing?
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کور نشناسد که دزد او که بود ** گر چه خود بر وی زند دزد عنود
- The blind man does not know who it was that robbed him, even though the wicked thief may knock against him.
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چون گزد سگ کور صاحب ژنده را ** کی شناسد آن سگ درنده را
- When a dog bites a blind ragged mendicant, how should he recognise that ferocious dog?
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حمله بردن سگ بر کور گدا
- How the dog attacked the mendicant who was blind.
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یک سگی در کوی بر کور گدا ** حمله میآورد چون شیر وغا
- A dog was attacking, as (though it were) a warlike lion, a blind mendicant in a certain street.
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سگ کند آهنگ درویشان به خشم ** در کشد مه خاک درویشان به چشم 2355
- The dog rushes angrily at dervishes; the moon smears her eyes with dust of (the feet of) dervishes.
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کور عاجز شد ز بانگ و بیم سگ ** اندر آمد کور در تعظیم سگ
- The blind man was made helpless by the dog's barking and by (his) fear of the dog; the blind man began to pay honour to the dog.
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کای امیر صید و ای شیر شکار ** دست دست تست دست از من بدار
- Saying, “O prince of the chase, and O lion of the hunt, thine is the (upper) hand: refrain thy hand from me!”—
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کز ضرورت دم خر را آن حکیم ** کرد تعظیم و لقب دادش کریم
- For, (moved) by necessity, that (renowned) philosopher paid honour to (one vile as) the tail of an ass, and gave him the title of “noble.”
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گفت او هم از ضرورت کای اسد ** از چو من لاغر شکارت چه رسد
- He (the blind man) too, of necessity, said, “O lion, what (good) will come to thee from such a meagre prey as I am?
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گور میگیرند یارانت به دشت ** کور میگیری تو در کوچه به گشت 2360
- Thy friends are catching onagers in the desert; thou art catching a blind man in the street; this is bad.
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گور میجویند یارانت به صید ** کور میجویی تو در کوچه به کید
- Thy friends seek on agers by hunting (them); thou in (mere) malice seekest a blind man in the street.”
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آن سگ عالم شکار گور کرد ** وین سگ بیمایه قصد کور کرد
- The knowing dog has made the onager his prey, while this worthless dog has attacked a blind man.
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علم چون آموخت سگ رست از ضلال ** میکند در بیشهها صید حلال
- When the dog has learned the knowledge (imparted to him), he has escaped from error: he hunts lawful prey in the jungles.
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سگ چو عالم گشت شد چالاک زحف ** سگ چو عارف گشت شد ز اصحاب کهف
- When the dog has become knowing (‘álim), he marches briskly; when the dog has become a knower of God (‘árif), he becomes (as) the Men of the Cave.
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سگ شناسا شد که میر صید کیست ** ای خدا آن نور اشناسنده چیست 2365
- The dog has come to know who is the Master of the hunt. O God, what is that knowing light?
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کور نشناسد نه از بیچشمی است ** بلکه این ز آن است کز جهل است مست
- (If) the blind man knows it not, ’tis not from (his) having no eye (to see); nay, ’tis because he is drunken with ignorance.
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نیست خود بیچشم تر کور از زمین ** این زمین از فضل حق شد خصم بین
- Truly, the blind man is not more eyeless than the earth; and this earth, by the grace of God, has become a seer of (God's) enemies.
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نور موسی دید و موسی را نواخت ** خسف قارون کرد و قارون را شناخت
- It saw the Light of Moses and showed kindness to Moses; (but) Qárún it engulfed, (for) it knew Qárún.
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رجف کرد اندر هلاک هر دعی ** فهم کرد از حق که یا أرض ابلعی
- It quaked for the destruction of every false pretender: it understood (the words that came) from God, “O earth, swallow (thy water)!”
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خاک و آب و باد و نار با شرر ** بیخبر با ما و با حق با خبر 2370
- Earth and water and air and sparking fire are unacquainted with us, but acquainted with God.