تو مکن تهدید از کشتن که من ** تشنه‌ی زارم به خون خویشتن
Do not thou threaten me with being killed, for I thirst lamentably for mine own blood.”
عاشقان را هر زمانی مردنیست ** مردن عشاق خود یک نوع نیست
For lovers, there is a dying at every moment: verily, the dying of lovers is not of one sort.
او دو صد جان دارد از جان هدی ** وآن دوصد را می‌کند هر دم فدی3835
He (the lover) hath two hundred souls (lives) from the Soul of Guidance, and those two hundred he is sacrificing at every instant.
هر یکی جان را ستاند ده بها ** از نبی خوان عشرة امثالها
For each soul (life) he receives ten as its price: read from the Qur’án “ten like unto them.”
گر بریزد خون من آن دوست‌رو ** پای‌کوبان جان برافشانم برو
If that One of friendly countenance shed my blood, dancing (in triumph) I will strew (lavish) my soul (life) upon Him.
آزمودم مرگ من در زندگیست ** چون رهم زین زندگی پایندگیست
I have tried it: my death is (consists) in life: when I escape from this life, ’tis to endure for ever.
اقتلونی اقتلونی یا ثقات ** ان فی قتلی حیاتا فی حیات
“Kill me, kill me, O trusty friends! Lo, in my being killed is life on life.”
یا منیر الخد یا روح البقا ** اجتذب روحی وجد لی باللقا3840
O Thou that makest the cheek radiant, O Spirit of everlastingness, draw my spirit to Thyself and generously bestow on me the meeting (with Thee).
لی حبیب حبه یشوی الحشا ** لو یشا یمشی علی عینی مشی
I have a Beloved whose love roasts the bowels (of my heart): if He wished to walk upon mine eye, He would walk (upon it, and be welcome).
پارسی گو گرچه تازی خوشترست ** عشق را خود صد زبان دیگرست
Speak Persian, though Arabic is sweeter: Love indeed hath a hundred other tongues (besides these two).
بوی آن دلبر چو پران می‌شود ** آن زبانها جمله حیران می‌شود
When the scent of that Charmer of hearts begins to fly (abroad), all those tongues become dumbfounded.
بس کنم دلبر در آمد در خطاب ** گوش شو والله اعلم بالصواب
I will cease (from speech): the Sweetheart has begun to speak, be (all) ear—and God best knoweth the right course.
چونک عاشق توبه کرد اکنون بترس ** کو چو عیاران کند بر دار درس3845
Since the lover has repented, now beware (of misapprehension), for he will lecture, like the adepts (in mystical love), on the gallows.
گرچه این عاشق بخارا می‌رود ** نه به درس و نه به استا می‌رود
Although this lover is going to Bukhárá, he is not going to (attend) lectures or to (learn from) a teacher.
عاشقان را شد مدرس حسن دوست ** دفتر و درس و سبقشان روی اوست
For lovers, the (only) lecturer is the beauty of the Beloved, their (only) book and lecture and lesson is His face.
خامشند و نعره‌ی تکرارشان ** می‌رود تا عرش و تخت یارشان
They are silent (outwardly), but the shrill noise of their repetition is going up to the throne and high-seat of their Friend.
درسشان آشوب و چرخ و زلزله ** نه زیاداتست و باب سلسله
Their (only) lesson is enthusiasm and the whirling dance and quaking agitation; not the Ziyádát and the chapter on “the chain.”
سلسله‌ی این قوم جعد مشکبار ** مسله‌ی دورست لیکن دور یار3850
The “chain” of these people (the lovers of God) is the musk-dropping curls (of the Beloved); they have the question of “the circle,” but it is the “circle” of the Friend.
مسله‌ی کیس ار بپرسد کس ترا ** گو نگنجد گنج حق در کیسه‌ها
If any one ask you about the question of “the purse,” tell (him) that God's treasure is not contained in purses.
گر دم خلع و مبارا می‌رود ** بد مبین ذکر بخارا می‌رود
If talk of khul‘ and mubárá is going on (among them), do not disapprove: (inwardly) mention is being made of “Bukhárá.”
ذکر هر چیزی دهد خاصیتی ** زانک دارد هرصفت ماهیتی
The mention (recollection) of any thing produces a particular (spiritual) effect, inasmuch as every quality has a quiddity.
در بخارا در هنرها بالغى ** چون به خوارى رو نهى ز آن فارغى
In Bukhárá you attain to (perfection in) the sciences: when you turn to lowliness (ba-khwárí), you are freed from them.
آن بخاری غصه‌ی دانش نداشت ** چشم بر خورشید بینش می‌گماشت3855
That man of Bukhárá had not the vexation of knowledge: he was fixing his eyes on the sun of vision.
هرکه درخلوت ببینش یافت راه ** او ز دانشها نجوید دستگاه
No one who in solitude has found the way to vision will seek power by means of the (diverse) kinds of knowledge.
با جمال جان چوشد هم‌کاسه‌ای ** باشدش ز اخبار و دانش تاسه‌ای
When he has become a boon-companion to the beauty of the Soul, he will have a disgust of traditional learning and knowledge.