کیقبادی رسته از خوف و رجا ** چند گردی چند جویی تا کجا1965
Thou art an emperor delivered from fear and hope: how long wilt thou wander? How long wilt thou seek? To what bound?
آن تو با تست و تو واقف برین ** آسمانا چند پیمایی زمین
(He that is) thine is with thee, and thou art conscious of this. O (thou who art exalted as the) sky, how long wilt thou traverse the (low) earth?”
گفت موسی این ملامت کم کنید ** آفتاب و ماه را کم ره زنید
Moses said, “Do not make this reproach (against me), do not waylay the Sun and the Moon.
می‌روم تا مجمع البحرین من ** تا شوم مصحوب سلطان زمن
I will fare as far as the meeting-place of the two seas, that (afterwards) I may be accompanied by the Sovereign of the time.
اجعل الخضر لامری سببا ** ذاک او امضی و اسری حقبا
I will make Khizr a means to (the achievement of) my purpose: (either) that, or I will go onward and journey by night a long while.
سالها پرم بپر و بالها ** سالها چه بود هزاران سالها1970
I will fly with wings and pinions for years: what are years? For thousands of years.”
می‌روم یعنی نمی‌ارزد بدان ** عشق جانان کم مدان از عشق نان
(He said) “I will fare,” meaning, “Is it not worth that (toilsome journey)? Do not deem the passion for the Beloved to be less than the passion for bread (worldly goods).”
این سخن پایان ندارد ای عمو ** داستان آن دقوقی را بگو
This discourse hath no end, O uncle. (Now) tell the story of Daqúqí.
بازگشتن به قصه‌ی دقوقی
Resuming the story of Daqúqí.
آن دقوقی رحمة الله علیه ** گفت سافرت مدی فی خافقیه
That Daqúqí, God have mercy on him, said: “I travelled a long time between His two horizons.
سال و مه رفتم سفر از عشق ماه ** بی‌خبر از راه حیران در اله
Years and months I went on my journey for love of the Moon, unconscious of the way, lost in God.”
پا برهنه می‌روی بر خار و سنگ ** گفت من حیرانم و بی خویش و دنگ1975
(Some one asked him), “(Why) dost thou go bare-foot over thorns and stones?” He said, “I am bewildered and beside myself and crazed.”
تو مبین این پایها را بر زمین ** زانک بر دل می‌رود عاشق یقین
Do not regard these feet (that walk) on the earth, for assuredly the lover (of God) walks on his heart;
از ره و منزل ز کوتاه و دراز ** دل چه داند کوست مست دل‌نواز
(And) the heart that is intoxicated with the Sweetheart, what should it know of road and stage or of short (distance) and long?
آن دراز و کوته اوصاف تنست ** رفتن ارواح دیگر رفتنست
That “long” and “short” are attributes of the body: the faring of spirits is another (kind of) faring.
تو سفرکردی ز نطفه تا بعقل ** نه بگامی بود نه منزل نه نقل
You have journeyed from the seed to rationality: ’twas not by (taking) a step or (travelling from stage to) stage or moving from one place to another.
سیر جان بی چون بود در دور و دیر ** جسم ما از جان بیاموزید سیر1980
The journey of the spirit is unconditioned in respect of Time and Space: our body learned from the spirit how to journey.
سیر جسمانه رها کرد او کنون ** می‌رود بی‌چون نهان در شکل چون
Now it has relinquished the bodily manner of journeying: it moves unconditioned, (though) masked in the form of conditionedness.
گفت روزی می‌شدم مشتاق‌وار ** تا ببینم در بشر انوار یار
He (Daqúqí) said, “One day I was going along like him that yearns, that I might behold in man the radiance of the Beloved,
تا ببینم قلزمی در قطره‌ای ** آفتابی درج اندر ذره‌ای
That I might behold an ocean in a drop of water, a sun enclosed in a mote.
چون رسیدم سوی یک ساحل بگام ** بود بیگه گشته روز و وقت شام
When I came on foot to a certain shore, the day had turned late, and ’twas eventide.
نمودن مثال هفت شمع سوی ساحل
The apparition of what seemed like seven candles in the direction of the shore.
هفت شمع از دور دیدم ناگهان ** اندر آن ساحل شتابیدم بدان1985
Of a sudden I beheld from afar seven candles and hastened along the shore towards them.
نور شعله‌ی هر یکی شمعی از آن ** بر شده خوش تا عنان آسمان
The light of the flame of each candle thereof ascended beauteously to the loft of the sky.
خیره گشتم خیرگی هم خیره گشت ** موج حیرت عقل را از سر گذشت
I became amazed, (so that) even amazement (itself) became amazed: the waves of bewilderment passed over the head of my understanding.
این چگونه شمعها افروختست ** کین دو دیده‌ی خلق ازینها دوختست
(I thought), ‘What kind of candles are these (that) He hath lighted, so that the eyes of His creatures are screened from them?’
خلق جویان چراغی گشته بود ** پیش آن شمعی که بر مه می‌فزود
The people had gone to seek a lamp in the presence of that (sevenfold) candle which was surpassing the moon (in splendour).