بود اول مونس غم انتظار ** آخرش بشکست کی هم انتظار

At first, expectation was the comforting friend of (his) sorrow; at last, there broke him—who? Even (the same) expectation.

گاه گفتی کین بلای بی‌دواست ** گاه گفتی نه حیات جان ماست

Sometimes he would say, “This is an irremediable affliction”; sometimes he would say, “No, it is the life of my spirit.”

گاه هستی زو بر آوردی سری ** گاه او از نیستی خوردی بری

Sometimes (self-) existence would lift up a head from him (appear in him); sometimes he would eat of the fruit of non-existence.

چونک بر وی سرد گشتی این نهاد ** جوش کردی گرم چشمه‌ی اتحاد 4760

When this (bodily) nature became cold (irksome and useless) to him, the fountain of union (with the beloved) would boil hotly.

چونک با بی‌برگی غربت بساخت ** برگ بی‌برگی به سوی او بتاخت

When he put up with (contented himself with) the unprovidedness of exile, the provision of unprovidedness hastened towards him.

خوشه‌های فکرتش بی‌کاه شد ** شب‌روان را رهنما چون ماه شد

The wheat-ears of his thought were purged of chaff: he became, like the moon, a guide to the night-travellers.

ای بسا طوطی گویای خمش ** ای بسا شیرین‌روان رو ترش

Oh, there is many a parrot that speaks though it is mute; oh, there is many a sweet-spirited one whose face is sour.

رو به گورستان دمی خامش نشین ** آن خموشان سخن‌گو را ببین

Go to the graveyard, sit awhile in silence, and behold those eloquent silent ones;

لیک اگر یکرنگ بینی خاکشان ** نیست یکسان حالت چالاکشان 4765

But, if you see that their dust is of one colour, (yet) their active (spiritual) state is not uniform.

شحم و لحم زندگان یکسان بود ** آن یکی غمگین دگر شادان بود

The fat and flesh of living persons is uniform, (yet) one is sad, another glad.