یار را چندین بجویم جد و چست ** که بدانم که نمی‌بایست جست
I will seek the Beloved with all my might and energy until I know whether I need not have sought (Him).
آن معیت کی رود در گوش من ** تا نگردم گرد دوران زمن
How should (the mystery of) His being with me enter my (spiritual) ear unless I wander round the world?
کی کنم من از معیت فهم راز ** جز که از بعد سفرهای دراز
How should I apprehend the mystery of His being with me except after (making) long journeys?”
حق معیت گفت و دل را مهر کرد ** تا که عکس آید به گوش دل نه طرد 4180
God hath said that He is with us, but He hath sealed the heart in order that it (the real meaning) may enter the heart's ear contrariwise (indirectly), not directly.
چون سفرها کرد و داد راه داد ** بعد از آن مهر از دل او بر گشاد
When he (the seeker) has made (many) journeys and performed the duties of the Way, after that (and not before) the seal is removed from his heart.
چون خطایین آن حساب با صفا ** گرددش روشن ز بعد دو خطا
As (in the arithmetical method of) “the two errors,” the excellent (successful) calculation (only) becomes clear to him after two mistakes.
بعد از آن گوید اگر دانستمی ** این معیت را کی او را جستمی
After that, he says (to himself), “If I had known (the real nature of) this being with God, how should I have searched for Him?
دانش آن بود موقوف سفر ** ناید آن دانش به تیزی فکر
(But) the knowledge thereof depended on journeying: that knowledge is not to be gained by keenness of thought.”
آنچنان که وجه وام شیخ بود ** بسته و موقوف گریه‌ی آن وجود 4185
’Tis just as the payment of the Shaykh's debts was contingent and dependent on the weeping of that (young) creature.
کودک حلواییی بگریست زار ** توخته شد وام آن شیخ کبار
(When) the confectioner's boy wept bitterly, the debts of the venerable Shaykh were discharged.
گفته شد آن داستان معنوی ** پیش ازین اندر خلال مثنوی
That spiritual tale has already been related in the course of the Mathnawí.
در دلت خوف افکند از موضعی ** تا نباشد غیر آنت مطمعی
He (God) puts in thy heart the fear of (losing) a certain position, in order that no other (position) may be an object of hope to thee.
در طمع فایده‌ی دیگر نهد ** وآن مرادت از کسی دیگر دهد
To thy hope (of gaining thy wish from that quarter) He attaches another advantage (beneficial result); but He grants thee thy wish from (the hands of) some one else.
ای طمع در بسته در یک جای سخت ** که آیدم میوه از آن عالی‌درخت 4190
O thou who hast fixed thy hopes firmly on one quarter, saying, “The fruit will come to me from that lofty tree,”
آن طمع زان جا نخواهد شد وفا ** بل ز جای دیگر آید آن عطا
Thy hope will not be fulfilled from there; nay, the bounty will come from another place.
آن طمع را پس چرا در تو نهاد ** چون نخواستت زان طرف آن چیز داد
Why, then, did He implant in thee that hope, since He would not give thee the (desired) thing from that quarter?
از برای حکمتی و صنعتی ** نیز تا باشد دلت در حیرتی
(’Tis) for a wise purpose and contrivance; and also in order that thy heart may be in a state of bewilderment.
تا دلت حیران بود ای مستفید ** که مرادم از کجا خواهد رسد
(’Tis) that thy heart may be bewildered, O learner, (wondering) from where the object of thy desire will come (to thee).
تا بدانی عجز خویش و جهل خویش ** تا شود ایقان تو در غیب بیش 4195
(’Tis) that thou mayst know thy weakness and thy ignorance and that consequently thy faith in the Unseen may be increased;
هم دلت حیران بود در منتجع ** که چه رویاند مصرف زین طمع
And, moreover, that thy heart may be perplexed concerning the source whence the (expected) benefit will arrive, and what (result) the (Divine) Disposer will produce from this hope.
طمع داری روزیی در درزیی ** تا ز خیاطی بی زر تا زیی
Thou hopest (to find) a means of livelihood in tailoring, so that by working as a tailor thou mayst earn money all thy life;
رزق تو در زرگری آرد پدید ** که ز وهمت بود آن مکسب بعید
(But) He causes thy daily bread to come to thee in the goldsmith's craft—a means of gain that was far from (entering) thy imagination.
پس طمع در درزیی بهر چه بود ** چون نخواست آن رزق زان جانب گشود
Wherefore, then, were thy hopes set on tailoring, when He did not intend to let thy daily bread reach thee from that side?
بهر نادر حکمتی در علم حق ** که نبشت آن حکم را در ما سبق 4200
(’Twas) by reason of a marvellous providence in the knowledge of God— an edict which He wrote in the (eternal) past;
نیز تا حیران بود اندیشه‌ات ** تا که حیرانی بود کل پیشه‌ات
And also to the end that thy thoughts should be bewildered, so that bewilderment should be thy whole occupation.