- When the herd has turned back from (after) going down to water, the goat that was the leader (now) falls behind (becomes the hindmost),
- چونک واگردید گله از ورود ** پس فتد آن بز که پیش آهنگ بود
- And the lame hindmost goat is now in front: the return caused the faces to laugh of them that were frowning (before). 1120
- پیش افتد آن بز لنگ پسین ** اضحک الرجعی وجوه العابسین
- How did this party (the prophets and saints) become lame and give up glory and purchase ignominy in vain?
- از گزافه کی شدند این قوم لنگ ** فخر را دادند و بخریدند ننگ
- This party go on the pilgrimage (to Reality) with broken legs, (because) there is a secret way from straitness to ease.
- پا شکسته میروند این قوم حج ** از حرج راهیست پنهان تا فرج
- This company washed their hearts (clean) of (the exoteric) kinds of knowledge, because this knowledge does not know that Way.
- دل ز دانشها بشستند این فریق ** زانک این دانش نداند آن طریق
- (In order to tread this Way) one needs a knowledge whereof the root is Yonder, inasmuch as every branch is a guide to its root.
- دانشی باید که اصلش زان سرست ** زانک هر فرعی به اصلش رهبرست
- How should every wing fly across the breadth of the Sea? (Only) the esoteric knowledge will bear (thee) to the Presence (of God). 1125
- هر پری بر عرض دریا کی پرد ** تا لدن علم لدنی میبرد
- Why, then, should you teach a man the knowledge of which it behoves him to purify his breast?
- پس چرا علمی بیاموزی به مرد ** کش بباید سینه را زان پاک کرد
- Therefore do not seek to be in front: be lame on this side, and be the leader at the moment of return.
- پس مجو پیشی ازین سر لنگ باش ** وقت وا گشتن تو پیش آهنگ باش
- O clever one, be thou (according to the Prophet's saying, “We are) the hindmost and the foremost”: the fresh fruit is prior to the tree.
- آخرون السابقون باش ای ظریف ** بر شجر سابق بود میوهی طریف
- Although the fruit comes last into being, it is the first, because it was the object.
- گرچه میوه آخر آید در وجود ** اولست او زانک او مقصود بود
- Say, like the angels, “We have no knowledge,” to the end that “Thou hast taught us” may take thy hand (come to thy aid). 1130
- چون ملایک گوی لا علم لنا ** تا بگیرد دست تو علمتنا
- If in this school thou dost not know the alphabet, (yet) thou art filled, like Ahmad (Mohammed), with the light of Reason.
- گر درین مکتب ندانی تو هجا ** همچو احمد پری از نور حجی
- If thou art not famous in the world, (yet) thou art not lost: God knoweth best concerning His servants.
- گر نباشی نامدار اندر بلاد ** گم نهای الله اعلم بالعباد
- A treasure of gold is (hidden), for safety's sake, in a desolate spot that is not well-known.
- اندر آن ویران که آن معروف نیست ** از برای حفظ گنجینهی زریست
- How should they deposit the treasure in a well-known place? On this account it is said, “Joy is (hidden) beneath sorrow.”
- موضع معروف کی بنهند گنج ** زین قبل آمد فرج در زیر رنج
- Here the mind may bring (suggest) many difficulties, but a good beast will break the tether. 1135
- خاطر آرد بس شکال اینجا ولیک ** بسکلد اشکال را استور نیک
- His (God's) love is a fire that consumes difficulties: the daylight sweeps away every phantom.
- هست عشقش آتشی اشکالسوز ** هر خیالی را بروبد نور روز
- O thou with whom He is pleased, seek the answer from the same quarter from which this question came to thee.
- هم از آن سو جو جواب ای مرتضا ** کین سال آمد از آن سو مر ترا
- The cornerless corner of the heart is a King's highway: the radiance that is neither of the east nor of the west is (derived) from a Moon.
- گوشهی بی گوشهی دل شهرهیست ** تاب لا شرقی و لا غرب از مهیست
- Why on this side and on that, like a beggar, O mountain of Reality, art thou seeking the echo?
- تو ازین سو و از آن سو چون گدا ** ای که معنی چه میجویی صدا
- Seek (the answer) from the same quarter to which, in the hour of pain, thou bendest low, crying repeatedly, “O my Lord!” 1140
- هم از آن سو جو که وقت درد تو ** میشوی در ذکر یا ربی دوتو
- In the hour of pain and death thou turnest in that direction: how, when thy pain is gone, art thou ignorant?
- وقت درد و مرگ آن سو مینمی ** چونک دردت رفت چونی اعجمی
- At the time of tribulation thou hast called unto God, (but) when the tribulation is gone, thou sayest, “Where is the way?”
- وقت محنت گشتهای الله گو ** چونک محنت رفت گویی راه کو
- This is because (thou dost not know God): every one that knows God without uncertainty is constantly engaged in that (commemoration of Him),
- این از آن آمد که حق را بی گمان ** هر که بشناسد بود دایم بر آن