بخش 20 - صفت طاوس و طبع او و سبب کشتن ابراهیم علیه‌السلام او را

Now we come to the two-coloured (double-faced) peacock, who displays himself for the sake of name and fame.

His desire is to catch people: he is ignorant of good and evil and of the result and use of that (catching).

He catches his prey ignorantly, like a trap: what knowledge has the trap concerning the purpose of its action?

What harm (comes) to the trap, or what benefit, from catching (its prey)? I wonder at its idle catching.

O brother, thou hast uplifted thy friends with two hundred marks of affection, and (then) abandoned (them).

This has been thy business from the hour of (thy) birth: to catch people with the trap of love.

From that pursuit (of people) and throng (of friends) and vainglory and self existence wilt thou get any warp or woof? Try and see!

Most (of thy life) is gone and the day is late; (yet) thou art still busy in pursuit of people.

Go on catching one and releasing another from the trap and pursuing another, like mean folk;

Then again release this one and seek the other! Here's a game of heedless children!

Night comes, and nothing is caught in thy trap: the trap is naught but a headache (affliction) and shackle to thee.

Therefore (in reality) thou wert catching thyself with the trap, for thou art imprisoned and disappointed of thy desire.

Is any owner of a trap in the world such a dolt that, like us, he tries to catch himself?

Pursuit of the vulgar is like hunting pig: the fatigue is infinite, and ’tis unlawful to eat a morsel thereof.

That which is worth pursuing is Love alone; but how should He be contained in any one's trap?

(Yet) perchance thou mayst come and be made His prey, thou mayst discard the trap, and go into His trap.

Love is saying very softly into my ear, “To be a prey is better than to be a hunter.

Make thyself My fool and be a dupe: renounce the (high) estate of the sun, become a mote!

Become a dweller at My door and be homeless: do not pretend to be a candle, be a moth,

That thou mayst see (taste) the savour of Life and contemplate the sovereignty hidden in servitude.”

In this world you see the shoes upside down: the title of “kings” is conferred on (those who are really) bondsmen.

Many a one who deserves to mount the scaffold with a halter on his throat—a crowd (gathers) round him, crying, “Behold, an emperor!”

(They are) like the tombs of infidels, outwardly (resembling) the robes of Paradise, (while) within (them) is the wrath of God Almighty and Glorious.

He (the worldling) has been plastered like the tombs: the veil of self-conceit has been brought before him (drawn over him).

Thy miserable nature is plastered with virtues, like a palm-tree of wax without (real) leaves and fruit.