چند بیخود گشت و چند آمد به خود ** چند پرید از ازل سوی ابد
How oft did he become beside himself and how oft return to himself! How oft did he fly from eternity to everlastingness!
بعد از این گر شرح گویم ابلهی است ** ز انکه شرح این ورای آگهی است1775
If I should unfold (his tale) after this, ’tis foolishness (in me), because the explanation of this is beyond (our) understanding;
ور بگویم عقلها را بر کند ** ور نویسم بس قلمها بشکند
And if I should speak (thereof), ’twould root up (men's) minds; and if I should write (thereof), ’twould shatter many pens.
چون که موسی این عتاب از حق شنید ** در بیابان در پی چوپان دوید
When Moses heard these reproaches from God, he ran into the desert in quest of the shepherd.
بر نشان پای آن سر گشته راند ** گرد از پردهی بیابان بر فشاند
He pushed on over the footprints of the bewildered man, he scattered dust from the skirt of the desert.
گام پای مردم شوریده خود ** هم ز گام دیگران پیدا بود
The footstep of a man distraught is, in truth, distinct from the footsteps of others:
یک قدم چون رخ ز بالا تا نشیب ** یک قدم چون پیل رفته بر وریب1780
(At) one step, (he moves) like the rook (straight) from top to bottom (of the chessboard); (at) one step he goes crossways, like the bishop;
گاه چون موجی بر افرازان علم ** گاه چون ماهی روانه بر شکم
Now lifting his crest like a wave; now going on his belly like a fish;
گاه بر خاکی نبشته حال خود ** همچو رمالی که رملی بر زند
Now writing (a description of) his state on some dust, like a geomancer who takes an omen by drawing lines (on earth or sand).
عاقبت دریافت او را و بدید ** گفت مژده ده که دستوری رسید
At last he (Moses) overtook and beheld him; the giver of glad news said, “Permission has come (from God).
هیچ آدابی و ترتیبی مجو ** هر چه میخواهد دل تنگت بگو
Do not seek any rules or method (of worship); say whatsoever your distressful heart desires.
کفر تو دین است و دینت نور جان ** ایمنی و ز تو جهانی در امان1785
Your blasphemy is (the true) religion, and your religion is the light of the spirit: you are saved, and through you a (whole) world is in salvation.
ای معاف یفعل الله ما یشاء ** بیمحابا رو زبان را بر گشا
O you who are made secure by God doeth whatso He willeth, go, loose your tongue without regard (for what you say).”
گفت ای موسی از آن بگذشتهام ** من کنون در خون دل آغشتهام
He said, “O Moses, I have passed beyond that: I am now bathed in (my) heart's blood.
من ز سدرهی منتهی بگذشتهام ** صد هزاران ساله ز آن سو رفتهام
I have passed beyond the Lote-tree of the farthest bourn, I have gone a hundred thousand years' journey on the other side.
تازیانه بر زدی اسبم بگشت ** گنبدی کرد و ز گردون بر گذشت
Thou didst ply the lash, and my horse shied, made a bound, and passed beyond the sky.
محرم ناسوت ما لاهوت باد ** آفرین بر دست و بر بازوت باد1790
May the Divine Nature be intimate with my human nature— blessings be on thy hand and on thine arm!
حال من اکنون برون از گفتن است ** این چه میگویم نه احوال من است
Now my state is beyond telling: this which I am telling is not my (real) state.”
نقش میبینی که در آیینهای است ** نقش تست آن نقش آن آیینه نیست
You behold the image which is in a mirror: it is your (own) image, it is not the image of the mirror.
دم که مرد نایی اندر نای کرد ** در خور نای است نه در خورد مرد
The breath which the flute-player puts into the flute—does it belong to the flute? No, it belongs to the man (the flute-player).
هان و هان گر حمد گویی گر سپاس ** همچو نافرجام آن چوپان شناس
Take good heed! Whether you speak praise (of God) or thanksgiving, know that it is even as the unseemly (words) of that shepherd.
حمد تو نسبت بدان گر بهتر است ** لیک آن نسبت به حق هم ابتر است1795
Though your praise is better in comparison with that, yet in relation to God it too is maimed (feeble).
چند گویی چون غطا برداشتند ** کاین نبوده ست آن که میپنداشتند
How often will you say, when the lid has been raised, “This was not what they were thinking (it was)!”
این قبول ذکر تو از رحمت است ** چون نماز مستحاضه رخصت است
This acceptance (by God) of your praise is from (His) mercy: it is an indulgence (which He grants), like (the indulgence granted in the case of) the prayers of a woman suffering from menorrhagia.
با نماز او بیالوده ست خون ** ذکر تو آلودهی تشبیه و چون
Her prayers are stained with blood; your praise is stained with assimilation and qualification.