Let them join in a bond of love, and I will destroy it; I will do that which they conceive not.
مهر پیوندند و من ویران کنم ** آنک اندر وهم نارند آن کنم
Have thou no fear, and give him a lengthy respite; bid him bring together his host and prepare a hundred devices.”
تو مترس و مهلتش ده دم‌دراز ** گو سپه گرد آر و صد حیلت بساز
How Moses, on whom be peace, gave Pharaoh a respite, that he might assemble the magicians from the cities.
مهلت دادن موسی علیه‌السلام فرعون را تا ساحران را جمع کند از مداین
He (Moses) said, “The (Divine) command hath come. Go, the respite is (granted) to thee. I depart to my dwelling-place: thou art delivered from me.”
گفت امر آمد برو مهلت ترا ** من بجای خود شدم رستی ز ما
He was going (on his way), and at his heels (went) the dragon wise and loving, like the hunter's dog.1100
او همی‌شد و اژدها اندر عقب ** چون سگ صیاد دانا و محب
Like the hunter's dog, wagging its tail: it made the stones (crumble as) sand beneath its hoof.
چون سگ صیاد جنبان کرده دم ** سنگ را می‌کرد ریگ او زیر سم
With its breath it drew in stone and iron (to its jaws) and visibly chewed the iron into small fragments.
سنگ و آهن را بدم در می‌کشید ** خرد می‌خایید آهن را پدید
In the air it was making itself (rise) above the zodiac, so that Greeks and Georgians would flee from it in panic.
در هوا می‌کرد خود بالای برج ** که هزیمت می‌شد از وی روم و گرج
From its palate it cast out foam, like a camel: whomsoever a drop hit, he was smitten with tubercular leprosy.
کفک می‌انداخت چون اشتر ز کام ** قطره‌ای بر هر که زد می‌شد جذام
The gnashing of its teeth would break the heart; the souls of black lions would be distraught (with terror).1105
ژغژغ دندان او دل می‌شکست ** جان شیران سیه می‌شد ز دست
When that chosen one (Moses) reached his kinsfolk, he took hold of the corner of its mouth, and it became again a staff.
چون به قوم خود رسید آن مجتبی ** شدق او بگرفت باز او شد عصا
He leaned upon it, saying, “O wonder! to me (’tis clear as) the sun, to my enemy (’tis dark as) night.
تکیه بر وی کرد و می‌گفت ای عجب ** پیش ما خورشید و پیش خصم شب
O wonder! How doth this host not see a whole world filled with the morning sun?
ای عجب چون می‌نبیند این سپاه ** عالمی پر آفتاب چاشتگاه
Eyes open, and ears open, and this sun! I am amazed at God's eye-bandaging.
چشم باز و گوش باز و این ذکا ** خیره‌ام در چشم‌بندی خدا
I am amazed at them, and they too at me: (we are) from one springtime, (but) they are thorns and I am jasmine.1110
من ازیشان خیره ایشان هم ز من ** از بهاری خار ایشان من سمن
I bore to them many a cup of pure wine: its juice turned to stone before this company.
پیششان بردم بسی جام رحیق ** سنگ شد آبش به پیش این فریق
I twined a handful of roses and carried it to them: every rose became as a thorn, and the honey turned to poison.
دسته گل بستم و بردم به پیش ** هر گلی چون خار گشت و نوش نیش
That (pure wine) is the portion allotted to the selfless: since they are with themselves (not freed from self), how should it be shown (to them)?
آن نصیب جان بی‌خویشان بود ** چونک با خویش‌اند پیدا کی شود
With us, one must needs be a waking sleeper, that in the state of wakefulness he may dream dreams.”
خفته‌ی بیدار باید پیش ما ** تا به بیداری ببیند خوابها
Thought of created things is an enemy to this sweet (waking) sleep: until his (any one's) thought is asleep, his throat is shut.1115
دشمن این خواب خوش شد فکر خلق ** تا نخسپد فکرتش بستست حلق
A (mystical) bewilderment is needed to sweep (such) thought away: bewilderment devours (all) thought and recollection.
حیرتی باید که روبد فکر را ** خورده حیرت فکر را و ذکر را
The more perfect he is in (worldly) science, the more backward he is in reality and the more forward in appearance.
هر که کاملتر بود او در هنر ** او بمعنی پس بصورت پیشتر
He (God) hath said, “(Verily, to Him we are) returning”; and the return is in the same wise as a herd turns back and goes home.
راجعون گفت و رجوع این سان بود ** که گله وا گردد و خانه رود
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
While he that is veiled in intellect and uncertainty is sometimes covered (inaccessible to spiritual emotion) and sometimes with his collar torn (in a state of rapture).
وانک در عقل و گمان هستش حجاب ** گاه پوشیدست و گه بدریده جیب
The particular (discursive) intellect is sometimes dominant, sometimes overthrown; the Universal Intellect is secure from the mischances of Time.1145