Why have I steeped myself in the discourse, so that from story-telling I have become a story?
ما چه خود را در سخن آغشتهایم ** کز حکایت ما حکایت گشتهایم
I become naught and (unsubstantial as) a fable in making moan (to God), in order that I may gain influence over (the hearts of) them that prostrate themselves in prayer.
من عدم و افسانه گردم در حنین ** تا تقلب یابم اندر ساجدین
This (story of Moses and Pharaoh) is not a story in the eyes of the man of experience: it is a description of an actual (spiritual) state, and it is (equivalent to) the presence of the Friend of the Cave.
این حکایت نیست پیش مرد کار ** وصف حالست و حضور یار غار
That (phrase) “stories of the ancients,” which the disobedient (infidels) applied to the words of the Qur’án, was a mark of (their) hypocrisy.1150
آن اساطیر اولین که گفت عاق ** حرف قرآن را بد آثار نفاق
The man transcending space, in whom is the Light of God— whence (what concern of his) is the past, the future, or the present?
لامکانی که درو نور خداست ** ماضی و مستقبل و حال از کجاست
His being past or future is (only) in relation to thee: both are one thing, and thou thinkest they are two.
ماضی و مستقبلش نسبت به تست ** هر دو یک چیزند پنداری که دوست
One individual is to him father and to us son: the roof is below Zayd and above ‘Amr.
یک تنی او را پدر ما را پسر ** بام زیر زید و بر عمرو آن زبر
The relation of “below” and “above” arises from those two persons: as regards itself, the roof is one thing only.
نسبت زیر و زبر شد زان دو کس ** سقف سوی خویش یک چیزست بس
These expressions are not (exactly) similar to that (doctrine of spiritual timelessness): they are a comparison: the old words fall short of the new meaning.1155
نیست مثل آن مثالست این سخن ** قاصر از معنی نو حرف کهن
Since there is no river-marge, close thy lips, O waterskin: this Sea of candy hath (ever) been without marge or shore.
چون لب جو نیست مشکا لب ببند ** بی لب و ساحل بدست این بحر قند
How Pharaoh sent (messengers) to the cities in search of the magicians.