یک نشانی که بخندد پیش تو ** یک نشان که دست بندد پیش تو
One sign is that he will smile before you; one sign is that he will fold his hands in your presence;
یک نشانی آن که این خواب از هوس ** چون شود فردا نگویی پیش کس
One sign is that when the morrow comes you will not tell this dream to any one, though you would fain do so.
ز ان نشان با والد یحیی بگفت ** که نیایی تا سه روز اصلا به گفت1675
Concerning that (last-mentioned) sign, He (God) said to Zakariyyá (Zacharias), “Thou shalt not begin to speak at all till three days (have passed).
تا سه شب خامش کن از نیک و بدت ** این نشان باشد که یحیی آیدت
For three nights keep silence as to thy good and ill: this will be the sign that Yahyá will come (be born) to thee.
دم مزن سه روز اندر گفتوگو ** کاین سکوت است آیت مقصود تو
During three days do not breathe a word, for this silence is the sign of (the fulfilment) of thy purpose.
هین میاور این نشان را تو به گفت ** وین سخن را دار اندر دل نهفت
Beware! do not thou speak of this sign, and keep this matter hidden in thy heart.”
این نشانها گویدش همچون شکر ** این چه باشد صد نشانی دگر
He (the person dreamed of) will sweetly tell these signs to him (the dreamer). What are these signs (alone)? (He will tell him) a hundred signs besides.
این نشان آن بود کان ملک و جاه ** که همیجویی بیابی از اله1680
This (which follows) is the sign that you will gain from God the (spiritual) kingdom and power that you are seeking—
آن که میگریی به شبهای دراز ** و انکه میسوزی سحرگه در نیاز
That you weep continually in the long nights, and that you are always ardent in supplication at the hour of dawn;
آن که بیآن روز تو تاریک شد ** همچو دوکی گردنت باریک شد
That, in the absence of that (which you seek), your day has become dark; (that) your neck has become thin as a spindle;
و آن چه دادی هر چه داری در زکات ** چون زکات پاک بازان رختهات
And what you have given in alms (is) all that you possess, (so that) your belongings (are entirely bestowed in charity) like the alms of those who gamble all away;
رختها دادی و خواب و رنگ رو ** سر فدا کردی و گشتی همچو مو
(That) you have given up your belongings and sleep and the (healthy) colour of your face, and sacrificed your head (life) and become as (thin as) a hair;
چند در آتش نشستی همچو عود ** چند پیش تیغ رفتی همچو خود1685
(That) you have sat—how often!—in the fire, like aloes-wood; that you have gone—how often!—to meet the sword, like a helmet.
زین چنین بیچارگیها صد هزار ** خوی عشاق است و ناید در شمار
A hundred thousand such acts of helplessness are habitual to lovers (of God), and (their number) cannot be reckoned.
چون که شب این خواب دیدی روز شد ** از امیدش روز تو پیروز شد
After you have had this dream at night, the day breaks; through hope thereof your day becomes triumphant.
چشم گردان کردهای بر چپ و راست ** کان نشان و آن علامتها کجاست
You have turned your eye to left and right, (wondering) where is that sign and those tokens.
بر مثال برگ میلرزی که وای ** گر رود روز و نشان ناید به جای
You are trembling like a leaf (and saying), “Alas, if the day depart and the sign come not to pass!”
میدوی در کوی و بازار و سرا ** چون کسی کاو گم کند گوساله را1690
You are running in street and market and into houses, like one that should lose a calf.
خواجه خیر است این دوادو چیستت ** گم شده اینجا که داری کیستت
(Somebody asks), “Is it good (news), Sir? Why are you running to and fro? Who belonging to you is it that you have lost here?”
گوییاش خیر است لیکن خیر من ** کس نشاید که بداند غیر من
“It is good (news),” you tell him, “but none may know my good (news) except myself.
گر بگویم نک نشانم فوت شد ** چون نشان شد فوت وقت موت شد
If I tell it, lo, my sign is missed, and when the sign is missed, the hour of death is come.”
بنگری در روی هر مرد سوار ** گویدت منگر مرا دیوانهوار
You peer into the face of every rider: he says to you, “Do not look at me like a madman.”
گوییاش من صاحبی گم کردهام ** رو به جستجوی او آوردهام1695
You say to him, “I have lost a friend; I have set out to seek him.
دولتت پاینده بادا ای سوار ** رحم کن بر عاشقان معذور دار
May thy fortune be lasting, O rider! Have pity on lovers and excuse (them).”
چون طلب کردی به جد آمد نظر ** جد خطا نکند چنین آمد خبر
When you have made search (and your) looking has been in earnest—earnest endeavour does not fail: so the Tradition has come down (from the Prophet)—