“Visit once a week” is not the ration for (those) fishes, since they feel no spiritual joy without the Sea.
آب این دریا که هایل بقعه‌ایست ** با خمار ماهیان خود جرعه‌ایست
Notwithstanding the crop-sickness of the fishes, the water of this Sea, which is a tremendous place, is but a single draught (too little to satisfy them).
یک دم هجران بر عاشق چو سال ** وصل سالی متصل پیشش خیال
To the lover one moment of separation is as a year; to him a (whole) year's uninterrupted union is a (fleeting) fancy.
عشق مستسقیست مستسقی‌طلب ** در پی هم این و آن چون روز و شب 2675
Love craves to drink and seeks him who craves to drink: this (Love) and that (lover) are at each other's heels, like Day and Night.
روز بر شب عاشقست و مضطرست ** چون ببینی شب برو عاشق‌ترست
Day is in love with Night and has lost control of itself; when you look (inwardly), (you will see that) Night is (even) more in love with it.
نیستشان از جست‌وجو یک لحظه‌ایست ** از پی همشان یکی دم ایست نیست
Never for one instant do they cease from seeking; never for one moment do they cease from pursuing each other.
این گرفته پای آن آن گوش این ** این بر آن مدهوش و آن بی‌هوش این
This one has caught the foot of that one, and that one the ear of this one: this one is distraught with that one, and that one is beside itself for this one.
در دل معشوق جمله عاشق است ** در دل عذرا همیشه وامق است
In the heart of the beloved the lover is all: Wámiq is always in the heart of ‘Adhrá.
در دل عاشق به جز معشوق نیست ** در میانشان فارق و فاروق نیست 2680
In the lover's heart is naught but the beloved: there is nothing to separate and divide them.
بر یکی اشتر بود این دو درا ** پس چه زر غبا بگنجد این دو را
These two bells are on one camel: how, then, in regard to these twain should (the injunction), “Visit once a week,” be admissible?
هیچ کس با خویش زر غبا نمود ** هیچ کس با خود به نوبت یار بود
Did any one (ever) pay recurring visits to himself? Was any one (ever) a companion to himself at regular intervals?
آن یکیی نه که عقلش فهم کرد ** فهم این موقوف شد بر مرگ مرد
That (of which I speak) is not the (sort of) oneness that reason apprehends: the apprehension of this (oneness) depends on a man's dying (to self);
ور به عقل ادراک این ممکن بدی ** قهر نفس از بهر چه واجب شدی
And if it were possible to perceive this (oneness) by means of reason, wherefore should self-violence have become a duty?
با چنان رحمت که دارد شاه هش ** بی‌ضرورت چون بگوید نفس کش 2685
How, with such (infinite) mercy as He hath, would the King of intellect say unnecessarily “Kill thyself”?
مبالغه کردن موش در لابه و زاری و وصلت جستن از چغز آبی
How the mouse exerted himself to the utmost in supplication and humble entreaty and besought the water-frog to grant him access (at all times).
گفت کای یار عزیز مهرکار ** من ندارم بی‌رخت یک‌دم قرار
He (the mouse) said, “O dear and affectionate friend, without (seeing) thy face I have not a moment's rest.
روز نور و مکسب و تابم توی ** شب قرار و سلوت و خوابم توی
By day thou art my light and (power of) acquisition and strength; by night thou art my rest and comfort and sleep.
از مروت باشد ار شادم کنی ** وقت و بی‌وقت از کرم یادم کنی
It would be a generous act if thou wouldst make me happy and kindly remember me early and late.
در شبان‌روزی وظیفه‌ی چاشتگاه ** راتبه کردی وصال ای نیک‌خواه
During (the period of) a (whole) day and night thou hast allowed me (only) breakfast-time for access (to thee), O well-wisher.
پانصد استسقاستم اندر جگر ** با هر استسقا قرین جوع البقر 2690
I feel in my liver five hundred cravings for drink, and bulimy (morbid hunger) is conjoined with every craving.
بی‌نیازی از غم من ای امیر ** ده زکات جاه و بنگر در فقیر
Thou, O prince, art unconcerned with my passion: pay the poor-tax on thy high estate, look (kindly) on (this) poor wretch.