عقلشان یک‌دم ستد ساقی عمر ** سیر گشتند از خرد باقی مرد
(Love which is) the cupbearer of life took away their intelligence in one moment: they drank their fill of wisdom all the rest of their lives.
اصل صد یوسف جمال ذوالجلال ** ای کم از زن شو فدای آن جمال
The beauty of the Almighty is the source of a hundred Josephs: O you who are less than a woman, devote yourself to that beauty!
عشق برد بحث را ای جان و بس ** کو ز گفت و گو شود فریاد رس 3240
O (dear) soul, Love alone cuts disputation short, for it (alone) comes to the rescue when you cry for help against arguments.
حیرتی آید ز عشق آن نطق را ** زهره نبود که کند او ماجرا
Eloquence is dumbfounded by Love: it dare not engage in altercation;
که بترسد گر جوابی وا دهد ** گوهری از لنج او بیرون فتد
For he (the lover) fears that, if he answer back, a pearl (his inner experience) may fall out of his mouth.
لب ببندد سخت او از خیر و شر ** تا نباید کز دهان افتد گهر
He closes his lips tight against (uttering) good or evil (words) lest the pearl should fall from his mouth (and be lost),
هم‌چنانک گفت آن یار رسول ** چون نبی بر خواندی بر ما فصول
Even as the Companion of the Prophet said, “Whenever the Prophet recited sections (of the Qur’án) to us,
آن رسول مجتبی وقت نثار ** خواستی از ما حضور و صد وقار 3245
At the moment of munificence that chosen Messenger would demand of us attentiveness and a hundred reverences.”
آنچنان که بر سرت مرغی بود ** کز فواتش جان تو لرزان شود
’Tis as when a bird is (perched) on your head, and your soul trembles for fear of its flitting,
پس نیاری هیچ جنبیدن ز جا ** تا نگیرد مرغ خوب تو هوا
So you dare not stir from your place, lest your beautiful bird should take to the air;
دم نیاری زد ببندی سرفه را ** تا نباید که بپرد آن هما
You dare not breathe, you suppress a cough, lest that humá should fly away;
ور کست شیرین بگوید یا ترش ** بر لب انگشتی نهی یعنی خمش
And if any one speak sweet or sour (words) to you, you lay a finger on your lip, meaning, “Hush!”
حیرت آن مرغست خاموشت کند ** بر نهد سردیگ و پر جوشت کند 3250
Bewilderment is (like) that bird: it makes you silent: it puts the lid on the kettle and fills you with the boiling (of love).
پرسیدن پادشاه قاصدا ایاز را کی چندین غم و شادی با چارق و پوستین کی جمادست می‌گویی تا ایاز را در سخن آورد
How the King (Mahmúd) purposely asked Ayáz, “(Why) art thou telling all this sorrow and joy to a rustic shoe and a sheepskin jacket, which are inanimate?” (His purpose was) that he might induce Ayáz to speak.
ای ایاز این مهرها بر چارقی ** چیست آخر هم‌چو بر بت عاشقی
(The King said), “O Ayáz, pray, why are these marks of affection, like (those of) a lover to his adored one, (shown by thee) to a rustic shoe?
هم‌چو مجنون از رخ لیلی خویش ** کرده‌ای تو چارقی را دین و کیش
Thou hast made a rustic shoe (the object of) thy devotion and religion, as Majnún (made) of his Laylá’s face (an object of the same kind).
با دو کهنه مهر جان آمیخته ** هر دو را در حجره‌ای آویخته
Thou hast mingled thy soul’s love with two old articles (of dress) and hung them both in a chamber.
چند گویی با دو کهنه نو سخن ** در جمادی می‌دمی سر کهن
How long wilt thou speak new words to (those) two old things and breathe the ancient secret into a substance devoid of life?
چون عرب با ربع و اطلال ای ایاز ** می‌کشی از عشق گفت خود دراز 3255
Like (the poets among) the Arabs, O Ayáz, thou art drawing out long and lovingly thy converse with the (deserted) abodes and the traces of former habitation.
چارقت ربع کدامین آصفست ** پوستین گویی که کرته‌ی یوسفست
Of what Ásaf are thy shoon the abode? One would say that thy sheepskin jacket is the shirt of Joseph.”
هم‌چو ترسا که شمارد با کشش ** جرم یکساله زنا و غل و غش
(This is) like (the case of) the Christian who recounts to his priest a year’s sins––fornication and malice and hypocrisy––
تا بیامرزد کشش زو آن گناه ** عفو او را عفو داند از اله
In order that the priest may pardon his sins, for he regards his (the priest’s) forgiveness as forgiveness from God.
نیست آگه آن کشش از جرم و داد ** لیک بس جادوست عشق و اعتقاد
The priest has no (real) knowledge of sin and pardon; but love and firm belief are mightily bewitching.
دوستی و وهم صد یوسف تند ** اسحر از هاروت و ماروتست خود 3260
Love and imagination weave (create) a hundred (forms beautiful as) Joseph: in sooth they are greater sorcerers than Hárút and Márút.
صورتی پیدا کند بر یاد او ** جذب صورت آردت در گفت و گو
They cause a form (of phantasy) to appear in memory of him (your Beloved): the attraction of the form leads you into (conversation with it).
رازگویی پیش صورت صد هزار ** آن چنان که یار گوید پیش یار
You tell a hundred thousand secrets in the form’s presence, just as a friend speaks (intimately) in the presence of a friend.