وصف حق کو وصف مشتی خاک کو ** وصف حادث کو وصف پاک کو
What relation exists between the attributes of God and those of a handful of earth? What relation exists between the attributes of him who is originated in time and those of the Holy (Eternal) One?
شرح عشق ار من بگویم بر دوام ** صد قیامت بگذرد و آن ناتمام
If I should continue to describe Love, a hundred Resurrections would pass, and it (my description would still be) incomplete;
زانک تاریخ قیامت را حدست ** حد کجا آنجا که وصف ایزدست 2190
For there is a limit to the date of the Resurrection, but what limit can there be where the Divine attributes are (concerned)?
عشق را پانصد پرست و هر پری ** از فراز عرش تا تحتالثری
Love hath five hundred wings, and every wing (extends) from above the empyrean to beneath the earth.
زاهد با ترس میتازد به پا ** عاشقان پرانتر از برق و هوا
The timorous ascetic runs on foot; the lovers (of God) fly more quickly than the lightning and the wind.
کی رسند این خایفان در گرد عشق ** که آسمان را فرش سازد درد عشق
How should those fearful ones overtake Love?—for Love's passion makes the (lofty) heaven its carpet—
جز مگر آید عنایتهای ضو ** کز جهان و زین روش آزاد شو
Unless perchance the favours of the (Divine) Light come and say, “Become free from the world and from this wayfaring;
از قش خود وز دش خود باز ره ** که سوی شه یافت آن شهباز ره 2195
Escape from thine own qush and dush, for (only) the royal falcon has found the way to the King.”
این قش و دش هست جبر و اختیار ** از ورای این دو آمد جذب یار
This “qush and dush” is necessity and free-will: the pull of the Beloved (who draws you to Himself) transcends these twain.
چون رسید آن زن به خانه در گشاد ** بانگ در در گوش ایشان در فتاد
When the wife arrived home, she opened the door: the sound of the door fell on their ears.