1Cademy - دفتر دوم - بخش ۱۰۳ - عذر گفتن فقیر به شیخ / Book Two - Section 103

Learn Before

مثنوی معنوی: دفتر دوم / Masnavi: Book Two

Poem

دفتر دوم - بخش ۱۰۳ - عذر گفتن فقیر به شیخ / Book Two - Section 103 - The Poor Man Apologizing to the Shaykh

Original content

پس فقیر آن شیخ را احوال گفت
عذر را با آن غرامت کرد جفت

مر سؤال شیخ را داد او جواب
چون جوابات خضر خوب و صواب

آن جوابات سؤالات کلیم
کش خضر بنمود از رب علیم

گشت مشکلهاش حل وافزون ز یاد
از پی هر مشکلش مفتاح داد

از خضر درویش هم میراث داشت
در جواب شیخ همت بر گماشت

گفت راه اوسط ارچه حکمتست
لیک اوسط نیز هم با نسبتست

آب جو نسبت باشتر هست کم
لیک باشد موش را آن همچو یم

هر که را باشد وظیفه چار نان
دو خورد یا سه خورد هست اوسط آن

ور خورد هر چار دور از اوسط است
او اسیر حرص مانند بط است

هر که او را اشتها ده نان بود
شش خورد می‌دان که اوسط آن بود

چون مرا پنجاه نان هست اشتها
مر ترا شش گرده هم‌دستیم نی

تو بده رکعت نماز آیی ملول
من به پانصد در نیایم در نحول

آن یکی تا کعبه حافی می‌رود
وین یکی تا مسجد از خود می‌شود

آن یکی در پاک‌بازی جان بداد
وین یکی جان کند تا یک نان بداد

این وسط در با نهایت می‌رود
که مر آن را اول و آخر بود

اول و آخر بباید تا در آن
در تصور گنجد اوسط یا میان

بی‌نهایت چون ندارد دو طرف
کی بود او را میانه منصرف

اول و آخر نشانش کس نداد
گفت لو کان له البحر مداد

هفت دریا گر شود کلی مداد
نیست مر پایان شدن را هیچ امید

باغ و بیشه گر بود یکسر قلم
زین سخن هرگز نگردد هیچ کم

آن همه حبر و قلم فانی شود
وین حدیث بی‌عدد باقی بود

حالت من خواب را ماند گهی
خواب پندارد مر آن را گم‌رهی

چشم من خفته دلم بیدار دان
شکل بی‌کار مرا بر کار دان

گفت پیغامبر که عینای تنام
لا ینام قلبی عن رب الانام

چشم تو بیدار و دل خفته بخواب
چشم من خفته دلم در فتح باب

مر دلم را پنج حس دیگرست
حس دل را هر دو عالم منظرست

تو ز ضعف خود مکن در من نگاه
بر تو شب بر من همان شب چاشتگاه

بر تو زندان بر من آن زندان چو باغ
عین مشغولی مرا گشته فراغ

پای تو در گل مرا گل گشته گل
مر ترا ماتم مرا سور و دهل

در زمینم با تو ساکن در محل
می‌دوم بر چرخ هفتم چون زحل

همنشینت من نیم سایهٔ منست
برتر از اندیشه‌ها پایهٔ منست

زانک من ز اندیشه‌ها بگذشته‌ام
خارج اندیشه پویان گشته‌ام

حاکم اندیشه‌ام محکوم نی
زانک بنا حاکم آمد بر بنا

جمله خلقان سخرهٔ اندیشه‌اند
زان سبب خسته دل و غم‌پیشه‌اند

قاصدا خود را باندیشه دهم
چون بخواهم از میانشان بر جهم

من چو مرغ اوجم اندیشه مگس
کی بود بر من مگس را دست‌رس

قاصدا زیر آیم از اوج بلند
تا شکسته‌پایگان بر من تنند

چون ملالم گیرد از سفلی صفات
بر پرم همچون طیور الصافات

پر من رستست هم از ذات خویش
بر نچفسانم دو پر من با سریش

جعفر طیار را پر جاریه‌ست
جعفر طرار را پر عاریه‌ست

نزد آنک لم یذق دعویست این
نزد سکان افق معنیست این

لاف و دعوی باشد این پیش غراب
دیگ تی و پر یکی پیش ذباب

چونک در تو می‌شود لقمه گهر
تن مزن چندانک بتوانی بخور

شیخ روزی بهر دفع سؤ ظن
در لگن قی کرد پر در شد لگن

گوهر معقول را محسوس کرد
پیر بینا بهر کم‌عقلی مرد

چونک در معده شود پاکت پلید
قفل نه بر حلق و پنهان کن کلید

هر که در وی لقمه شد نور جلال
هر چه خواهد تا خورد او را حلال

English translation

Then the poor man told the shaykh his circumstances, joining his apology to the compensation. He gave an answer to the shaykh's question, like Khidr's good and correct answers: those answers to the questions of Kalim, Moses, which Khidr disclosed from the all-knowing Lord. His difficulties were solved, beyond recollection; for each difficulty he supplied a key. The dervish too had an inheritance from Khidr, so he set his resolve to answering the shaykh. He said: The middle way, though it is wisdom, is also relative. The water of a stream is little in relation to a camel, but for a mouse it is like an ocean. Anyone whose allowance is four loaves: if he eats two or three, that is his middle. But if he eats all four, he is far from the middle; he is captive to greed, like a duck. Anyone whose appetite is ten loaves: know that six is his middle. Since my appetite is for fifty loaves, you with your six round loaves are not my equal. You grow weary at ten cycles of prayer; I do not become worn out by five hundred. One person goes barefoot to the Ka'ba, while another becomes beside himself on the way to the mosque. One person gave his life in pure self-abandonment; another strained his soul to give one loaf. This middle applies to what is bounded, to that which has a beginning and an end. There must be a beginning and an end, so that a middle or midpoint can be conceived in it. Since the Infinite has no two sides, how could a middle be applicable to it? No one has shown its beginning or end. He said: If the sea were ink. If all seven seas became ink, there would be no hope of reaching an end. If garden and forest were altogether pens, this speech would never be diminished. All that ink and those pens would perish, while this numberless discourse would remain. My state sometimes resembles sleep; the misguided person supposes it to be sleep. Know my eye as asleep and my heart as awake; know my outwardly idle form as active. The Prophet said: My two eyes sleep, but my heart does not sleep from the Lord of creatures. Your eye is awake and your heart is asleep; my eye is asleep and my heart is at the opened gate. My heart has five other senses; for the heart's sense both worlds are visible. Do not look at me through your own weakness: for you it is night, for me that same night is morning. For you it is prison; for me that prison is like a garden. The very state of being occupied has become leisure for me. Your foot is in mud; for me mud has become flowers. For you mourning, for me festival and drum. On earth I dwell with you in the same place, yet I run on the seventh heaven like Saturn. I am not your companion; it is my shadow. My rank is higher than thoughts, for I have passed beyond thoughts and have become one who moves outside thought. I rule thought; I am not ruled by it, because the builder rules the building. All creatures are subdued by thought; because of that they are weary-hearted and given to grief. Deliberately I give myself to thought; when I wish, I leap out from among them. I am a bird of the heights, and thought is a fly; how could a fly have access to me? Deliberately I descend from the high summit, so that the broken-footed may cling around me. When I grow weary of lower attributes, I fly upward like the birds of al-Saffat. My wings have grown from my own essence; I do not paste my two wings on with glue. Ja'far al-Tayyar has real, abiding wings; Ja'far the cutpurse has borrowed wings. To one who has not tasted, this is a mere claim; to the dwellers of the horizon, it is meaning. Before a crow this is bragging and claim; an empty pot and a full pot are the same before a fly. Since the morsel becomes a jewel in you, be silent and eat as much as you can. One day the shaykh, to remove suspicion, vomited into a basin; the basin became full of pearls. The seeing elder made the intelligible jewel perceptible for the sake of a man's feeble understanding. Since in your stomach the pure becomes filthy, lock your throat and hide the key. Whoever's morsel becomes the light of Majesty within him: whatever he wishes to eat is lawful for him.

Updated 2026-05-10

Contributors are:

Who are from:

References

Ganjoor

Learn Before

Original content

English translation

Related