پس کدامین شهر ز آنها خوشترست ** گفت آن شهری که در وی دلبرست
Which of them, then, is the fairest?” He replied, “The city where my sweetheart is.”
هرکجا باشد شه ما را بساط ** هست صحرا گر بود سم الخیاط3810
Wherever the carpet is (spread) for our King, (there) is the (spacious) plain, though it (that place) be (as narrow as) the eye of a needle.
هر کجا که یوسفی باشد چو ماه ** جنتست ارچه که باشد قعر چاه
Wherever a Joseph (beautiful) as the moon may be, ’tis Paradise, even though it be the bottom of a well.
منع کردن دوستان او را از رجوع کردن به بخارا وتهدید کردن و لاابالی گفتن او
How his friends hindered him from returning to Bukhárá and threatened him, and how he said, “I don't care.”
گفت او را ناصحی ای بی‌خبر ** عاقبت اندیش اگر داری هنر
A candid adviser said to him, “O imprudent man, think of the end (consequence), if thou hast (any) skill.
درنگر پس را به عقل و پیش را ** همچو پروانه مسوزان خویش را
Consider reasonably the future and the past: do not let thyself be burnt like a moth.
چون بخارا می‌روی دیوانه‌ای ** لایق زنجیر و زندان‌خانه‌ای
How art thou going to Bukhárá? Thou art mad, thou art (only) fit for chains and the prison-house.
او ز تو آهن همی‌خاید ز خشم ** او همی‌جوید ترا با بیست چشم3815
He (the Sadr-i Jahán) is champing iron in his wrath against thee; he is seeking thee with twenty eyes.
می‌کند او تیز از بهر تو کارد ** او سگ قحطست و تو انبان آرد
He is sharpening the knife for thee: he is (like) the starving dog, and thou (like) the bag of flour.
چون رهیدی و خدایت راه داد ** سوی زندان می‌روی چونت فتاد
After thou hast escaped and God has given thee the (open) road, thou art going (back) to prison: what is the matter with thee?
بر تو گر ده‌گون موکل آمدی ** عقل بایستی کز ایشان کم زدی
Had there been ten sorts of custodians over thee, intelligence would have been needed in order that thou might'st become quit of them.
چون موکل نیست بر تو هیچ‌کس ** از چه بسته گشت بر تو پیش و پس
Since no one is a custodian over thee, wherefore have the future and the past become sealed to thee?”
عشق پنهان کرده بود او را اسیر ** آن موکل را نمی‌دید آن نذیر3820
Secret love had made him (the Wakíl) captive: the warner (his critic) was not seeing that custodian.
هر موکل را موکل مختفیست ** ورنه او در بند سگ طبعی ز چیست
Every custodian's custodian is hidden; else, wherefore is he (the wicked custodian) in thrall to (his) currish nature?
خشم شاه عشق بر جانش نشست ** بر عوانی و سیه‌روییش بست
The anger of Love, the King, settled upon his soul and chained him to the (base) office of a myrmidon and to ignominy.
می‌زند او را که هین او رابزن ** زان عوانان نهان افغان من
It (anger) is striking him and saying, “Hark, strike him (thy captive)!” Woe is me on account of those hidden myrmidons.
هرکه بینی در زیانی می‌رود ** گرچه تنها با عوانی می‌رود
Whomsoever you see going in a (path of) detriment, he, though (apparently) alone, is going along with a (hidden) myrmidon.
گر ازو واقف بدی افغان زدی ** پیش آن سلطان سلطانان شدی3825
If he were aware of him, he would cry out in distress and go into the presence of the King of kings,
ریختی بر سر به پیش شاه خاک ** تا امان دیدی ز دیو سهمناک
And scatter earth on his head before the King, that he might find security from the frightful Devil.
میر دیدی خویش را ای کم ز مور ** زان ندیدی آن موکل را تو کور
(But) you, O less than an ant, deemed yourself a prince: hence, blind (as you are), you did not see that custodian.
غره گشتی زین دروغین پر و بال ** پر و بالی کو کشد سوی وبال
You were deluded by these false wings and plumes—the wings and plumes that lead to woe.
پر سبک دارد ره بالا کند ** چون گل‌آلو شد گرانیها کند
(If) he keep his wings light (unencumbered), he journeys upward; when he becomes defiled with earth, he makes heavinesses (which weigh him down).
لاابالی گفتن عاشق ناصح و عاذل را از سر عشق
How the lover, impelled by love, said “I don't care” to the person who counselled and scolded him.
گفت ای ناصح خمش کن چند چند ** پند کم ده زانک بس سختست بند3830
He said, “O counsellor, be silent! How long, how long (wilt thou chide)? Do not give advice, for the bonds (on me) are very grievous.
سخت‌تر شد بند من از پند تو ** عشق را نشناخت دانشمند تو
My bonds are more grievous than thy advice: thy doctor (who taught thee) was not acquainted with love.
آن طرف که عشق می‌افزود درد ** بوحنیفه و شافعی درسی نکرد
In that quarter where love was increasing (my) pain, Bú Hanífa and Sháfi‘í gave no instruction.
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.
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,