بس دراز است این حدیث خواجه گو ** تا چه شد احوال آن مرد نکو

This (discourse) is very long. Tell the story of the merchant, that we may see what happened to that good man.

خواجه اندر آتش و درد و حنین ** صد پراکنده همی‌‌گفت این چنین‌‌ 1815

The merchant in fire (burning grief) and anguish and yearning was uttering a hundred distracted phrases like this,

گه تناقض گاه ناز و گه نیاز ** گاه سودای حقیقت گه مجاز

Now self-contradiction, now disdain, now supplication, now passion for reality, now metaphor (unreality).

مرد غرقه گشته جانی می‌‌کند ** دست را در هر گیاهی می‌‌زند

The drowning man suffers an agony of soul and clutches at every straw.

تا کدامش دست گیرد در خطر ** دست و پایی می‌‌زند از بیم سر

For fear of (losing) his head (life), he flings about (both) hand and foot to see whether any one will take his hand (help him) in peril.

دوست دارد یار این آشفتگی ** کوشش بی‌‌هوده به از خفتگی‌‌

The Friend loves this agitation: it is better to struggle vainly than to lie still.

آن که او شاه است او بی‌‌کار نیست ** ناله از وی طرفه کاو بیمار نیست‌‌ 1820

He who is the King (of all) is not idle, (though) complaint from Him would be a marvel, for He is not ill.

بهر این فرمود رحمان ای پسر ** کل يوم هو فی شأن ای پسر

For this reason said the Merciful (God), O son, “Every day He is (busy) in an affair,” O son.

اندر این ره می‌‌تراش و می‌‌خراش ** تا دم آخر دمی فارغ مباش‌‌

In this Way be thou ever scraping and scratching (exerting thyself to the utmost): until thy last breath do not be unoccupied for a moment,

تا دم آخر دمی آخر بود ** که عنایت با تو صاحب سر بود

So that thy last breath may be a last breath in which the (Divine) favour is thy bosom-friend.