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.
دید بردانش بود غالب فرا ** زان همی دنیا بچربد عامه را
Vision is superior to knowledge: hence the present world prevails (over the next world) in the view of the vulgar,
زانک دنیا را همی‌بینند عین ** وآن جهانی را همی‌دانند دین
Because they regard this world as ready money, while they deem what concerns that (other) world to be (like) a debt.
رو نهادن آن بنده‌ی عاشق سوی بخارا
How that loving servant turned his face towards Bukhárá.
رو نهاد آن عاشق خونابه‌ریز ** دل‌طپان سوی بخارا گرم و تیز3860
With throbbing heart the lover, who shed tears mingled with blood, set out for Bukhárá in hot haste.
ریگ آمون پیش او همچون حریر ** آب جیحون پیش او چون آبگیر
The sands of Ámún seemed to him like silk, the river Oxus seemed to him like a pond.
آن بیابان پیش او چون گلستان ** می‌فتاد از خنده او چون گلستان
To him that wilderness was like a rose-garden: he was falling on his back from laughter, like the (full-blown) rose.
در سمرقندست قند اما لبش ** از بخارا یافت و آن شد مذهبش
The (material) candy is in Samarcand; but his lip got it from “Bukhárá,” and that (spiritual candy) became his creed.
ای بخارا عقل‌افزا بوده‌ای ** لیکن ازمن عقل و دین بربوده‌ای
“O Bukhárá, thou hast increased understanding (in others) but thou hast robbed me of understanding and religion.
بدر می‌جویم از آنم چون هلال ** صدر می‌جویم درین صف نعال3865
I am seeking the Full Moon: hence I am (thin) as the new moon. I am seeking the Sadr (Prince) in this ‘shoe-row’ (vestibule).”
چون سواد آن بخارا را بدید ** در سواد غم بیاضی شد پدید
When he described that “Bukhárá” looming black (in the distance), a whiteness (a mystic illumination) appeared in the blackness of his grief.