هاتفی گفتش کای دیده تعب ** رقعه‌ای در مشق وراقان طلب
(That) a heavenly voice said to him, “O you who have seen trouble, search among the (loose) leaves of handwriting sold (as models) by stationers for a certain scroll.
خفیه زان وراق کت همسایه است ** سوی کاغذپاره‌هاش آور تو دست 1910
Unobserved by the stationer who is your neighbour, bring your hand into touch with his papers.
رقعه‌ای شکلش چنین رنگش چنین ** بس بخوان آن را به خلوت ای حزین
It is a scroll of such a shape and such a colour: then (as soon as possible) read it in privacy, O sorrowful one.
چون بدزدی آن ز وراق ای پسر ** پس برون رو ز انبهی و شور و شر
When you steal it from the stationer, my lad, then go out of the crowd and the noise and turmoil,
تو بخوان آن را به خود در خلوتی ** هین مجو در خواندن آن شرکتی
And read it by yourself in some lonely place: beware, do not seek any partnership in reading it.
ور شود آن فاش هم غمگین مشو ** که نیابد غیر تو زان نیم جو
But even if it (the secret) be divulged, do not be anxious, for none but you will get (so much as) half a barley-corn thereof.
ور کشد آن دیر هان زنهار تو ** ورد خود کن دم به دم لاتقنطوا 1915
And if it (the affair) be long drawn out, beware and take heed! Make (the text) do not ye despair your litany at every moment.”
این بگفت و دست خود آن مژده‌ور ** بر دل او زد که رو زحمت ببر
The (heavenly) announcer of the good news said this and put his hand on his (the fakir's) heart, saying, “Go, endure the toil.”
چون به خویش آمد ز غیبت آن جوان ** می‌نگنجید از فرح اندر جهان
When the youth came back to himself after the absence, on account of his joy he could not be contained in the world.
زهره‌ی او بر دریدی از قلق ** گر نبودی رفق و حفظ و لطف حق
Had it not been for the tender care and protection and favour of God, his gallbladder would have burst from agitation.
یک فرح آن کز پس شصد حجاب ** گوش او بشنید از حضرت جواب
One (cause of) joy was this, that after (having passed through) six hundred veils his ear had heard the answer (to his prayer) from the (Divine) Presence.
از حجب چون حس سمعش در گذشت ** شد سرافراز و ز گردون بر گذشت 1920
When his auditory sense had pierced through the veils, he raised his head aloft and passed beyond the skies,
که بود کان حس چشمش ز اعتبار ** زان حجاب غیب هم یابد گذار
(Thinking) that maybe, by taking the lesson to heart, his sense of sight would also find a passage through the veil of the Unseen,
چون گذاره شد حواسش از حجاب ** پس پیاپی گرددش دید و خطاب
And that when (both) his senses had passed through the veil, his vision and allocution (from God) would then be continuous.
جانب دکان وراق آمد او ** دست می‌برد او به مشقش سو به سو
(So) he came to the stationer's shop and (for some time) was laying his hand here and there on his (the stationer's) models for writing.
پیش چشمش آمد آن مکتوب زود ** با علاماتی که هاتف گفته بود
Suddenly that piece of script, with the distinctive marks which the heavenly voice had mentioned, caught his eye.
در بغل زد گفت خواجه خیر باد ** این زمان وا می‌رسم ای اوستاد 1925
He slipped it under his arm and said, “Good-bye, Khwája: I will come back presently, O master.”
رفت کنج خلوتی و آن را بخواند ** وز تحیر واله و حیران بماند
He went into a solitary nook and read it and remained lost in bewilderment and amazement,
که بدین سان گنج‌نامه‌ی بی‌بها ** چون فتاده ماند اندر مشقها
(Wondering) how a priceless treasure-scroll of this sort had fallen and been left among the (stationer's) papers.
باز اندر خاطرش این فکر جست ** کز پی هر چیز یزدان حافظست
(Then) again the thought darted into his mind, that God is the guardian for everything,
کی گذارد حافظ اندر اکتناف ** که کسی چیزی رباید از گزاف
(And) how should the Guardian, in (His) circumspection, let any one recklessly carry off anything?
گر بیابان پر شود زر و نقود ** بی رضای حق جوی نتوان ربود 1930
Though the desert be filled with gold and (silver) money, not a single mite can be taken away without God's approval;
ور بخوانی صد صحف بی سکته‌ای ** بی قدر یادت نماند نکته‌ای
And though you read a hundred volumes without a pause, you will not remember a single point (of argument) without the Divine decree;
ور کنی خدمت نخوانی یک کتاب ** علمهای نادره یابی ز جیب
But if you serve God and do not read a single book, you will learn rare sciences from your (own) bosom.
شد ز جیب آن کف موسی ضو فشان ** کان فزون آمد ز ماه آسمان
The hand of Moses was spreading from his bosom a radiance that surpassed the moon in the sky,