خفته باشم بر یمین یا بر یسار ** برنگردم جز چو گو بیاختیار
I shall recline on the right or on the left, I shall not roll save involuntarily, like a ball,
هم به تقلیب تو تا ذات الیمین ** یا سوی ذات الشمال ای رب دین
Just as Thou, O Lord of the Judgement, turnest me over either to the right or to the left.
صد هزاران سال بودم در مطار ** همچو ذرات هوا بیاختیار 220
Hundreds of thousands of years I was flying (to and fro) involuntarily, like the motes in the air.
گر فراموشم شدست آن وقت و حال ** یادگارم هست در خواب ارتحال
If I have forgotten that time and state, (yet) the migration in sleep (to the spiritual world) recalls it to my memory.
میرهم زین چارمیخ چارشاخ ** میجهم در مسرح جان زین مناخ
(Every night) I escape from this four-branched cross and spring away from this (confined) halting-place into the (spacious) pasture of the spirit.
شیر آن ایام ماضیهای خود ** میچشم از دایهی خواب ای صمد
From the nurse, Sleep, I suck the milk of those bygone days of mine, O Lord.
جمله عالم ز اختیار و هست خود ** میگریزد در سر سرمست خود
All the (people in the) world are fleeing from their free-will and (self-)existence to their drunken (unconscious) side.
تا دمی از هوشیاری وا رهند ** ننگ خمر و زمر بر خود مینهند 225
In order that for awhile they may be delivered from sobriety (consciousness), they lay upon themselves the opprobrium of wine and minstrelsy.
جمله دانسته کای این هستی فخ است ** فکر و ذکر اختیاری دوزخ است
All know that this existence is a snare, that volitional thought and memory are a hell.
میگریزند از خودی در بیخودی ** یا به مستی یا به شغل ای مهتدی
They are fleeing from selfhood into selflessness either by means of intoxication or by means of (some engrossing) occupation, O well-conducted man.
نفس را زان نیستی وا میکشی ** زانک بیفرمان شد اندر بیهشی
Thou (O God) drawest the soul back from that state of not-being because it entered into unconsciousness without Thy command.
لیس للجن و لا للانس ان ** ینفذوا من حبس اقطار الزمن
Neither for the Jinn (genies) nor for mankind is it (possible) to pierce through the prison of the regions of the temporal world.
لا نفوذ الا بسلطان الهدی ** من تجاویف السموات العلی 230
There is no piercing through the cavities of the highest heavens save by the power of Guidance.
لا هدی الا بسلطان یقی ** من حراس الشهب روح المتقی
There is no guidance save by a power that preserves the spirit of the devout from the keepers of the shooting stars.
هیچ کس را تا نگردد او فنا ** نیست ره در بارگاه کبریا
There is no way (admittance) for any one, till he become naughted, into the audience-chamber of (Divine) Majesty.
چیست معراج فلک این نیستی ** عاشقان را مذهب و دین نیستی
What is the means of ascension to Heaven? This not-being. Not-being is the creed and religion of the lovers (of God).
پوستین و چارق آمد از نیاز ** در طریق عشق محراب ایاز
From self-abasement in the way of Love the fur jacket and rustic shoon became the prayer-niche of Ayáz.
گرچه او خود شاه را محبوب بود ** ظاهر و باطن لطیف و خوب بود 235
Even though he was beloved by the king (Mahmúd), and was charming and beauteous outwardly and inwardly—
گشته بیکبر و ریا و کینهای ** حسن سلطان را رخش آیینهای
(For) he had become devoid of any arrogance or ostentation or malice, and his face was a mirror for the beauty of the king—
چونک از هستی خود او دور شد ** منتهای کار او محمود بد
(Yet ’twas only) because he was far removed from his (self-) existence, (that) the end of his affair was praiseworthy.
زان قویتر بود تمکین ایاز ** که ز خوف کبر کردی احتراز
The steadfastness of Ayáz was all the firmer forasmuch as he was taking (those) precautions in fear of arrogance.
او مهذب گشته بود و آمده ** کبر را و نفس را گردن زده
He had been purified, and he had come and smitten the neck of (had beheaded) arrogance and selfishness.
یا پی تعلیم میکرد آن حیل ** یا برای حکمتی دور از وجل 240
He was practising these devices either for the purpose of instructing (others) or for the sake of some principle of wisdom far removed from fear;
یا که دید چارقش زان شد پسند ** کز نسیم نیستی هستیست بند
Or (perhaps) the sight of his rustic shoon pleased him because (self-)existence is a shutter against the breeze of not-being,
تا گشاید دخمه کان بر نیستیست ** تا بیاید آن نسیم عیش و زیست
(And he looked at them) in order that the charnel-house which is (built) on not-being might open, and that he might feel the breeze of vitality and life.