O Lord, O Thou whose beneficence is eternal, Thine is both that which I know and that which I know not.
ای خداوند ای قدیم احسان تو ** آنک دانم وانک نه هم آن تو
Thou didst command, saying, “Remember God, because My right shall never grow old.
تو بفرمودی که حق را یاد کن ** زانک حق من نمیگردد کهن
Remember the kindness which I did unto you that morn by protecting (you) in the ship (ark) of Noah.
یاد کن لطفی که کردم آن صبوح ** با شما از حفظ در کشتی نوح
At that time I gave to the stock of your fathers security from the Flood and from its waves.
پیله بابایانتان را آن زمان ** دادم از طوفان و از موجش امان
Water, like fire in (its deadly) nature, had covered the earth: its waves were sweeping away the highest peaks of the mountains.335
آب آتش خو زمین بگرفته بود ** موج او مر اوج که را میربود
I protected you, I did not spurn you, in the bodies of the ancestors of the ancestors of your ancestors.
حفظ کردم من نکردم ردتان ** در وجود جد جد جدتان
Now that you have come to the head, how should I smite the sole of your foot? How should I let My workshop go to waste?
چون شدی سر پشت پایت چون زنم ** کارگاه خویش ضایع چون کنم
How are you becoming devoted to the unfaithful and going in that direction from ill thoughts (of Me)?
چون فدای بیوفایان میشوی ** از گمان بد بدان سو میروی
I am clear of negligence and infidelities, (yet) you come to Me and think evil.
من ز سهو و بیوفاییها بری ** سوی من آیی گمان بد بری
Think this evil thought against the place where you cringe before one like yourself.340
این گمان بد بر آنجا بر که تو ** میشوی در پیش همچون خود دوتو
You got many powerful friends and companions: if I ask you, ‘Where (is so and- so)?’ you will say, ‘He is gone.’
بس گرفتی یار و همراهان زفت ** گر ترا پرسم که کو گویی که زفت
Your good friend is gone up to the highest Heaven, your wicked friend is gone to the bottom of the earth.
یار نیکت رفت بر چرخ برین ** یار فسقت رفت در قعر زمین
You are left in the middle (between them) so helpless (as you are), like a fire (left behind) from a caravan.”
تو بماندی در میانه آنچنان ** بیمدد چون آتشی از کاروان
O valiant friend, lay hold of the skirt of Him who is exempt from “above” and “below.”
دامن او گیر ای یار دلیر ** کو منزه باشد از بالا و زیر
Neither doth He ascend to Heaven, like Jesus, nor go (down) into the earth, like Qárún (Korah).345
نه چو عیسی سوی گردون بر شود ** نه چو قارون در زمین اندر رود
He is with you in space and in the spaceless (world) when you leave house and shop behind.
با تو باشد در مکان و بیمکان ** چون بمانی از سرا و از دکان
He brings forth purity from defilements, He takes your acts of wrong as faithful performance (of duty).
او بر آرد از کدورتها صفا ** مر جفاهای ترا گیرد وفا
When you commit wrong, He sends chastisement, to the end that you may go back from imperfection towards perfection.
چون جفا آری فرستد گوشمال ** تا ز نقصان وا روی سوی کمال
When you have neglected a part of your orisons in the Way, there comes over you a painful and hot feeling of contraction.
چون تو وردی ترک کردی در روش ** بر تو قبضی آید از رنج و تبش
That is the corrective act (of God), meaning, “Do not make any change in the ancient covenant350
آن ادب کردن بود یعنی مکن ** هیچ تحویلی از آن عهد کهن
Before (the day when) this contraction shall become a chain, (and when) this which (now) grips the heart shall become a fetter gripping the foot.”
پیش از آن کین قبض زنجیری شود ** این که دلگیریست پاگیری شود
Your mental pain shall become perceptible to the senses and manifest. See (therefore) that you do not hold this indication as naught.
رنج معقولت شود محسوس و فاش ** تا نگیری این اشارت را بلاش
The (spiritual) contractions (which occur) in (the case of) sins affect (only) the heart; after death (these) contractions become (actual) chains.
در معاصی قبضها دلگیر شد ** قبضها بعد از اجل زنجیر شد
“Whosoever here (in this world) shall turn his back upon Our commemoration, We shall give him a straitened life (hereafter) and reward him with blindness.”
نعط من اعرض هنا عن ذکرنا ** عیشة ضنک و نجزی بالعمی
When a thief is carrying off people's property, contraction and straitness of heart prick his heart (conscience),355
دزد چون مال کسان را میبرد ** قبض و دلتنگی دلش را میخلد