-
یک جوانی بر زنی مجنون بدست ** میندادش روزگار وصل دست
- A certain youth was madly enamoured of a woman: the fortune of union was not granted to him.
-
بس شکنجه کرد عشقش بر زمین ** خود چرا دارد ز اول عشق کین 4750
- Love tortured him exceedingly on the earth: why, in sooth, does Love bear hatred (to the lover) from the first?
-
عشق از اول چرا خونی بود ** تا گریزد آنک بیرونی بود
- Why is Love murderous from the first, so that he who is an outsider runs away?
-
چون فرستادی رسولی پیش زن ** آن رسول از رشک گشتی راهزن
- Whenever he sent a messenger to the woman, the messenger because of jealousy would become a highwayman (barring the way against him);
-
ور بسوی زن نبشتی کاتبش ** نامه را تصحیف خواندی نایبش
- And if his secretary wrote (a letter to be sent) to the woman, his delegate (messenger) would read the letter (to her) with tashíf;
-
ور صبا را پیک کردی در وفا ** از غباری تیره گشتی آن صبا
- And if in good faith he made the zephyr his envoy, that zephyr would be darkened by a (cloud of) dust.
-
رقعه گر بر پر مرغی دوختی ** پر مرغ از تف رقعه سوختی 4755
- If he sewed the letter on the wing of a bird, the bird's wing would be burnt by the ardour of the letter.
-
راههای چاره را غیرت ببست ** لشکر اندیشه را رایت شکست
- The (Divine) jealousy barred (all) the ways of device and broke the banner of the army of cogitation.
-
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.
-
تو چه دانی تا ننوشی قالشان ** زانک پنهانست بر تو حالشان
- Until you hear their words, what should you know (of their feelings), inasmuch as their (inward) state is hidden from you?
-
بشنوی از قال های و هوی را ** کی ببینی حالت صدتوی را
- You may hear words—(cries of) háy, húy; (but) how will you perceive the (inward) state that hath a hundred folds?
-
نقش ما یکسان بضدها متصف ** خاک هم یکسان روانشان مختلف
- Our (human) figure is uniform, (yet) endued with contrary qualities: likewise their dust is uniform, (yet) their spirits are diverse.
-
همچنین یکسان بود آوازها ** آن یکی پر درد و آن پر نازها 4770
- Similarly, voices are uniform (as such), (but) one is sorrowful, and another full of charms.
-
بانگ اسپان بشنوی اندر مصاف ** بانگ مرغان بشنوی اندر طواف
- On the battle-field you may hear the cry of horses; in strolling round (a garden) you may hear the cry of birds.
-
آن یکی از حقد و دیگر ز ارتباط ** آن یکی از رنج و دیگر از نشاط
- One (voice proceeds) from hate, and another from harmony; one from pain, and another from joy.
-
هر که دور از حالت ایشان بود ** پیشش آن آوازها یکسان بود
- Whoever is remote from (ignorant of) their (inward) state, to him the voices are uniform.