بخش 70 - بقیهٔ قصهٔ آن زاهد کوهی کی نذر کرده بود کی میوهٔ کوهی از درخت باز نکنم و درخت نفشانم و کسی را نگویم صریح و کنایت کی بیفشان آن خورم کی باد افکنده باشد از درخت

On that mountain were trees and fruits; there were many mountain-pears- (they were) numberless.

The dervish said, “O Lord, I make a covenant with Thee (that) I will not pluck any of these during the time (of my life).

I will not pluck from the raised-up (lofty) tress (aught) but the fruit that the wind has caused to fall.”

For a while he kept his vow faithfully: (he kept it) till the tribulations of Destiny came on.

On this account He (God) hath commanded, saying, “Make the exception: attach (the words) ‘if God will’ to your promise.

Every instant I give to the heart a different desire, every moment I lay upon the heart a different brand.

At every dawn I have a new employment: nothing turns aside from that (course) which I have willed.”

It has come down in the Traditions (of the Prophet) that the heart is like a feather in a desert, the captive of a violent blast.

The wind drives the feather recklessly in every direction, now left, now right, with a hundred diversities.

In another Tradition (the Prophet said), “Deem this heart to be as water boiling in a cauldron from (the heat of) fire.”

At every time the heart has a different resolution: that (resolution) is not (derived) from it, but from a certain place.

Why, then, will you trust in the heart’s resolution and make a covenant, that in the end you should be shamed?

This too is from the effect of the (Divine) ordinance and decree, (that) you see the pit and cannot take precaution.

‘Tis no wonder, indeed, for the flying bird not to see the snare (and so) fall into destruction;

The wonder is that it should see both the snare and the net-pin and fall (into the snare) willy- nilly.

(With) eye open and ear open and the snare in front, it is flying towards a snare with its own wings.