He said, “I will rise up and go back thither: if I have become an infidel, I will believe once more.
واروم آنجا بیفتم پیش او ** پیش آن صدر نکواندیش او
I will go back thither and fall before him-before its (Bukhárá’s) kindly-thinking Sadr (Prince).
گویم افکندم به پیشت جان خویش ** زنده کن یا سر ببر ما را چو میش
I will say, ‘I throw myself before thee: revive (me) or cut off my head, like a sheep!
کشته و مرده به پیشت ای قمر ** به که شاه زندگان جای دگر
‘Tis better to be slain and dead before thee, O Moon, that to be the king of the living in another place.
آزمودم من هزاران بار بیش ** بی تو شیرین می‌نبینم عیش خویش3800
I have put it to the test more than a thousand times: I don not deem my life sweet without thee.
غن لی یا منیتی لحن النشور ** ابرکی یا ناقتی تم السرور
Sing to me, O object of my desire, the melody of resurrection! Kneel, O my she-camel! The joy is complete.
ابلعی یا ارض دمعی قد کفی ** اشربی یا نفس وردا قد صفا
O earth, swallow my tears- surely they are enough. Drink, O my soul, a draught that is now pure!
عدت یا عیدی الینا مرحبا ** نعم ما روحت یا ریح الصبا
Thou hast returned to us, O my festival! Welcome! How goodly is the refreshment thou hast brought, O Zephyr!’”
گفت ای یاران روان گشتم وداع ** سوی آن صدری که امیرست و مطاع
He said, “Farewell, my friends: I have set out towards the Sadr who commands and is obeyed.
دم‌بدم در سوز بریان می‌شوم ** هرچه بادا باد آنجا می‌روم3805
Moment by moment I am being roasted in the flames. (of separation from him): I will go thither, come what may!
گرچه دل چون سنگ خارا می‌کند ** جان من عزم بخارا می‌کند
Although he is making his heart like a hard rock (against me), my soul is bound for Bukhárá.
مسکن یارست و شهر شاه من ** پیش عاشق این بود حب الوطن
It is the abode of my Friend and the city of my King: in the lover’s eyes this is (the meaning of) love of one’s native land.”
پرسیدن معشوقی از عاشق غریب خود کی از شهرها کدام شهر را خوشتر یافتی و انبوه‌تر و محتشم‌تر و پر نعمت‌تر و دلگشاتر
How a loved one asked her lover who had travelled in foreign countries, “Which city didst thou find the fairest and most thronged and the most magnificent and rich and charming?”
گفت معشوقی به عاشق کای فتی ** تو به غربت دیده‌ای بس شهرها
A loved one said to her lover, “O youth, thou hast seen many cities abroad.
پس کدامین شهر ز آنها خوشترست ** گفت آن شهری که در وی دلبرست
Which of them, then, is the fairest?” He replied, “The city where my sweetheart is.”
هرکجا باشد شه ما را بساط ** هست صحرا گر بود سم الخیاط3810
Wherever the carpet is (spread) for our King, (there) is the (spacious) plain, though it (that place) be (as narrow as) the eye of a needle.
هر کجا که یوسفی باشد چو ماه ** جنتست ارچه که باشد قعر چاه
Wherever a Joseph (beautiful) as the moon may be, ’tis Paradise, even though it be the bottom of a well.
منع کردن دوستان او را از رجوع کردن به بخارا وتهدید کردن و لاابالی گفتن او
How his friends hindered him from returning to Bukhárá and threatened him, and how he said, “I don't care.”
گفت او را ناصحی ای بی‌خبر ** عاقبت اندیش اگر داری هنر
A candid adviser said to him, “O imprudent man, think of the end (consequence), if thou hast (any) skill.
درنگر پس را به عقل و پیش را ** همچو پروانه مسوزان خویش را
Consider reasonably the future and the past: do not let thyself be burnt like a moth.
چون بخارا می‌روی دیوانه‌ای ** لایق زنجیر و زندان‌خانه‌ای
How art thou going to Bukhárá? Thou art mad, thou art (only) fit for chains and the prison-house.
او ز تو آهن همی‌خاید ز خشم ** او همی‌جوید ترا با بیست چشم3815
He (the Sadr-i Jahán) is champing iron in his wrath against thee; he is seeking thee with twenty eyes.
می‌کند او تیز از بهر تو کارد ** او سگ قحطست و تو انبان آرد
He is sharpening the knife for thee: he is (like) the starving dog, and thou (like) the bag of flour.
چون رهیدی و خدایت راه داد ** سوی زندان می‌روی چونت فتاد
After thou hast escaped and God has given thee the (open) road, thou art going (back) to prison: what is the matter with thee?
بر تو گر ده‌گون موکل آمدی ** عقل بایستی کز ایشان کم زدی
Had there been ten sorts of custodians over thee, intelligence would have been needed in order that thou might'st become quit of them.
چون موکل نیست بر تو هیچ‌کس ** از چه بسته گشت بر تو پیش و پس
Since no one is a custodian over thee, wherefore have the future and the past become sealed to thee?”
عشق پنهان کرده بود او را اسیر ** آن موکل را نمی‌دید آن نذیر3820
Secret love had made him (the Wakíl) captive: the warner (his critic) was not seeing that custodian.
هر موکل را موکل مختفیست ** ورنه او در بند سگ طبعی ز چیست
Every custodian's custodian is hidden; else, wherefore is he (the wicked custodian) in thrall to (his) currish nature?
خشم شاه عشق بر جانش نشست ** بر عوانی و سیه‌روییش بست
The anger of Love, the King, settled upon his soul and chained him to the (base) office of a myrmidon and to ignominy.
می‌زند او را که هین او رابزن ** زان عوانان نهان افغان من
It (anger) is striking him and saying, “Hark, strike him (thy captive)!” Woe is me on account of those hidden myrmidons.
هرکه بینی در زیانی می‌رود ** گرچه تنها با عوانی می‌رود
Whomsoever you see going in a (path of) detriment, he, though (apparently) alone, is going along with a (hidden) myrmidon.
گر ازو واقف بدی افغان زدی ** پیش آن سلطان سلطانان شدی3825
If he were aware of him, he would cry out in distress and go into the presence of the King of kings,
ریختی بر سر به پیش شاه خاک ** تا امان دیدی ز دیو سهمناک
And scatter earth on his head before the King, that he might find security from the frightful Devil.
میر دیدی خویش را ای کم ز مور ** زان ندیدی آن موکل را تو کور
(But) you, O less than an ant, deemed yourself a prince: hence, blind (as you are), you did not see that custodian.