Poem

دفتر پنجم - بخش ۱۶۶ - پشیمان شدن آن سرلشکر از آن خیانت کی کرد و سوگند دادن او آن کنیزک را کی به خلیفه باز نگوید از آنچ رفت / Book Five - Section 166 - The commander's repenting of the treachery he had committed and making the handmaiden swear not to tell the Caliph of what had passed

Original content

چند روزی هم بر آن بد بعد از آن
شد پشیمان او از آن جرم گران

داد سوگندش کای خورشیدرو
با خلیفه زینچ شد رمزی مگو

چون بدید او را خلیفه مست گشت
پس ز بام افتاد او را نیز طشت

دید صد چندان که وصفش کرده بود
کی بود خود دیده مانند شنود

وصف تصویرست بهر چشم هوش
صورت آن چشم دان نه زان گوش

کرد مردی از سخن دانی سؤال
حق و باطل چیست ای نیکو مقال

گوش را بگرفت و گفت این باطلست
چشم حقست و یقینش حاصلست

آن به نسبت باطل آمد پیش این
نسبتست اغلب سخنها ای امین

ز آفتاب ار کرد خفاش احتجاب
نیست محجوب از خیال آفتاب

خوف او را خود خیالش می دهد
آن خیالش سوی ظلمت می کشد

آن خیال نور می ترساندش
بر شب ظلمات می چفساندش

از خیال دشمن و تصویر اوست
که تو بر چفسیده ای بر یار و دوست

موسیا کشفت لمع بر که فراشت
آن مخیل تاب تحقیقت نداشت

هین مشو غره بدانک قابلی
مر خیالش را و زین ره واصلی

از خیال حرب نهراسید کس
لا شجاعه قبل حرب این دان و بس

بر خیال حرب حیز اندر فکر
می کند چون رستمان صد کر و فر

نقش رستم که آن به حمامی بود
قرن حمله فکر هر خامی بود

این خیال سمع چون مبصر شود
حیز چه بود رستمی مضطر شود

جهد کن کز گوش در چشمت رود
آنچ که آن باطل بدست آن حق شود

زان سپس گوشت شود هم طبع چشم
گوهری گردد دو گوش هم چو یشم

بلک جمله تن چو آیینه شود
جمله چشم و گوهر سینه شود

گوش انگیزد خیال و آن خیال
هست دلاله وصال آن جمال

جهد کن تا این خیال افزون شود
تا دلاله رهبر مجنون شود

آن خلیفه گول هم یک چند نیز
ریش گاوی کرد خوش با آن کنیز

ملک را تو ملک غرب و شرق گیر
چون نمی ماند تو آن را برق گیر

مملکت کان می نماند جاودان
ای دلت خفته تو آن را خواب دان

تا چه خواهی کرد آن باد و بروت
که بگیرد هم چو جلادی گلوت

هم درین عالم بدان که مامنیست
از منافق کم شنو کو گفت نیست

English translation

For a few days, it continued thus; thereafter, He repented of that heavy sin. He made her swear, 'O sun-faced beauty, Do not breathe a single word of what happened to the Caliph.' When the Caliph saw her, he became intoxicated, And his secret too was revealed. He saw her a hundredfold more beautiful than she had been described; How can hearing ever be like seeing? Description is a painted form for the eye of the intellect; Know that the actual form belongs to the eye, not the ear. A man asked a wise speaker: 'What is truth and what is falsehood, O eloquent one?' He grabbed his ear and said, 'This is falsehood, And the eye is truth, and its certainty is assured.' That is false in comparison with this; Most words, O trustworthy one, are relative. If the bat hid itself from the sun, It is not secluded from the imagination of the sun. Its fear is given to it by its own imagination, And that imagination of its drags it towards darkness. That imagination of light frightens it, And makes it cling to the night of darkness. It is because of the imagination of the enemy and his picture That you have clung to the helper and friend. O Moses, when the revelation of the flash shone upon the mountain, That mount of imagination could not endure the light of thy reality. Beware, do not be proud that you are receptive To His imagination, and that you have arrived by this path. None was ever frightened by the imagination of battle; 'There is no bravery before the battle'—know this and that is all. In the imagination of battle, a coward in his thoughts Performs a hundred charges and retreats like Rustam. The painting of Rustam in a bathhouse— At the moment of attack, it is the thought of every raw novice. When this imagination of the ear becomes seen by the eye, What of the coward? Even Rustam becomes desperate. Strive that what enters your ear may go to your eye, So that what was false may become truth. Thereafter, your ear will become of the same nature as your eye; Your two ears will become precious like jade. Indeed, your entire body will become like a mirror; It will become all eye and the jewel of the breast. The ear excites imagination, and that imagination Is the matchmaker for union with that Beauty. Strive so that this imagination may increase, Until the matchmaker becomes the guide of Majnun. That foolish Caliph also, for a time, Made a fool of himself with that handmaid. Take the kingdom as the dominion of West and East; Since it does not endure, regard it as a flash of lightning. The kingdom that does not remain eternally— O you whose heart is asleep, deem it a dream. What will you do with that pride and arrogance, Which will seize your throat like an executioner? Know that in this world, there is no place of safety; Listen less to the hypocrite who says there is none.

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Updated 2026-06-13

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