که مراد تو شود اینک نشان ** که بپیش آید ترا فردا فلان‏

That your desire will come to pass; here is the sign—such and such a person will meet you to-morrow.

یک نشانی آن که او باشد سوار ** یک نشانی که ترا گیرد کنار

One sign is that he will be riding; one sign is that he will clasp you to his breast;

یک نشانی که بخندد پیش تو ** یک نشان که دست بندد پیش تو

One sign is that he will smile before you; one sign is that he will fold his hands in your presence;

یک نشانی آن که این خواب از هوس ** چون شود فردا نگویی پیش کس‏

One sign is that when the morrow comes you will not tell this dream to any one, though you would fain do so.

ز ان نشان با والد یحیی بگفت ** که نیایی تا سه روز اصلا به گفت‏ 1675

Concerning that (last-mentioned) sign, He (God) said to Zakariyyá (Zacharias), “Thou shalt not begin to speak at all till three days (have passed).

تا سه شب خامش کن از نیک و بدت ** این نشان باشد که یحیی آیدت‏

For three nights keep silence as to thy good and ill: this will be the sign that Yahyá will come (be born) to thee.

دم مزن سه روز اندر گفت‏وگو ** کاین سکوت است آیت مقصود تو

During three days do not breathe a word, for this silence is the sign of (the fulfilment) of thy purpose.

هین میاور این نشان را تو به گفت ** وین سخن را دار اندر دل نهفت‏

Beware! do not thou speak of this sign, and keep this matter hidden in thy heart.”

این نشانها گویدش همچون شکر ** این چه باشد صد نشانی دگر

He (the person dreamed of) will sweetly tell these signs to him (the dreamer). What are these signs (alone)? (He will tell him) a hundred signs besides.

این نشان آن بود کان ملک و جاه ** که همی‏جویی بیابی از اله‏ 1680

This (which follows) is the sign that you will gain from God the (spiritual) kingdom and power that you are seeking—

آن که می‏گریی به شبهای دراز ** و انکه می‏سوزی سحرگه در نیاز

That you weep continually in the long nights, and that you are always ardent in supplication at the hour of dawn;

آن که بی‏آن روز تو تاریک شد ** همچو دوکی گردنت باریک شد

That, in the absence of that (which you seek), your day has become dark; (that) your neck has become thin as a spindle;

و آن چه دادی هر چه داری در زکات ** چون زکات پاک بازان رختهات‏

And what you have given in alms (is) all that you possess, (so that) your belongings (are entirely bestowed in charity) like the alms of those who gamble all away;

رختها دادی و خواب و رنگ رو ** سر فدا کردی و گشتی همچو مو

(That) you have given up your belongings and sleep and the (healthy) colour of your face, and sacrificed your head (life) and become as (thin as) a hair;

چند در آتش نشستی همچو عود ** چند پیش تیغ رفتی همچو خود 1685

(That) you have sat—how often!—in the fire, like aloes-wood; that you have gone—how often!—to meet the sword, like a helmet.

زین چنین بی‏چارگیها صد هزار ** خوی عشاق است و ناید در شمار

A hundred thousand such acts of helplessness are habitual to lovers (of God), and (their number) cannot be reckoned.

چون که شب این خواب دیدی روز شد ** از امیدش روز تو پیروز شد

After you have had this dream at night, the day breaks; through hope thereof your day becomes triumphant.

چشم گردان کرده‏ای بر چپ و راست ** کان نشان و آن علامتها کجاست‏

You have turned your eye to left and right, (wondering) where is that sign and those tokens.

بر مثال برگ می‏لرزی که وای ** گر رود روز و نشان ناید به جای‏

You are trembling like a leaf (and saying), “Alas, if the day depart and the sign come not to pass!”

می‏دوی در کوی و بازار و سرا ** چون کسی کاو گم کند گوساله را 1690

You are running in street and market and into houses, like one that should lose a calf.

خواجه خیر است این دوادو چیستت ** گم شده اینجا که داری کیستت‏

(Somebody asks), “Is it good (news), Sir? Why are you running to and fro? Who belonging to you is it that you have lost here?”

گویی‏اش خیر است لیکن خیر من ** کس نشاید که بداند غیر من‏

“It is good (news),” you tell him, “but none may know my good (news) except myself.

گر بگویم نک نشانم فوت شد ** چون نشان شد فوت وقت موت شد

If I tell it, lo, my sign is missed, and when the sign is missed, the hour of death is come.”

بنگری در روی هر مرد سوار ** گویدت منگر مرا دیوانه‏وار

You peer into the face of every rider: he says to you, “Do not look at me like a madman.”

گویی‏اش من صاحبی گم کرده‏ام ** رو به جستجوی او آورده‏ام‏ 1695

You say to him, “I have lost a friend; I have set out to seek him.