(He said) “I will fare,” meaning, “Is it not worth that (toilsome journey)? Do not deem the passion for the Beloved to be less than the passion for bread (worldly goods).”
میروم یعنی نمیارزد بدان ** عشق جانان کم مدان از عشق نان
This discourse hath no end, O uncle. (Now) tell the story of Daqúqí.
این سخن پایان ندارد ای عمو ** داستان آن دقوقی را بگو
Resuming the story of Daqúqí.
بازگشتن به قصهی دقوقی
That Daqúqí, God have mercy on him, said: “I travelled a long time between His two horizons.
آن دقوقی رحمة الله علیه ** گفت سافرت مدی فی خافقیه
Years and months I went on my journey for love of the Moon, unconscious of the way, lost in God.”
سال و مه رفتم سفر از عشق ماه ** بیخبر از راه حیران در اله
(Some one asked him), “(Why) dost thou go bare-foot over thorns and stones?” He said, “I am bewildered and beside myself and crazed.”1975
پا برهنه میروی بر خار و سنگ ** گفت من حیرانم و بی خویش و دنگ
Do not regard these feet (that walk) on the earth, for assuredly the lover (of God) walks on his heart;
تو مبین این پایها را بر زمین ** زانک بر دل میرود عاشق یقین
(And) the heart that is intoxicated with the Sweetheart, what should it know of road and stage or of short (distance) and long?
از ره و منزل ز کوتاه و دراز ** دل چه داند کوست مست دلنواز
That “long” and “short” are attributes of the body: the faring of spirits is another (kind of) faring.
آن دراز و کوته اوصاف تنست ** رفتن ارواح دیگر رفتنست
You have journeyed from the seed to rationality: ’twas not by (taking) a step or (travelling from stage to) stage or moving from one place to another.
تو سفرکردی ز نطفه تا بعقل ** نه بگامی بود نه منزل نه نقل
The journey of the spirit is unconditioned in respect of Time and Space: our body learned from the spirit how to journey.1980
سیر جان بی چون بود در دور و دیر ** جسم ما از جان بیاموزید سیر
Now it has relinquished the bodily manner of journeying: it moves unconditioned, (though) masked in the form of conditionedness.
سیر جسمانه رها کرد او کنون ** میرود بیچون نهان در شکل چون
He (Daqúqí) said, “One day I was going along like him that yearns, that I might behold in man the radiance of the Beloved,
گفت روزی میشدم مشتاقوار ** تا ببینم در بشر انوار یار
That I might behold an ocean in a drop of water, a sun enclosed in a mote.
تا ببینم قلزمی در قطرهای ** آفتابی درج اندر ذرهای
When I came on foot to a certain shore, the day had turned late, and ’twas eventide.
چون رسیدم سوی یک ساحل بگام ** بود بیگه گشته روز و وقت شام
The apparition of what seemed like seven candles in the direction of the shore.
نمودن مثال هفت شمع سوی ساحل
Of a sudden I beheld from afar seven candles and hastened along the shore towards them.1985
هفت شمع از دور دیدم ناگهان ** اندر آن ساحل شتابیدم بدان
The light of the flame of each candle thereof ascended beauteously to the loft of the sky.
نور شعلهی هر یکی شمعی از آن ** بر شده خوش تا عنان آسمان
I became amazed, (so that) even amazement (itself) became amazed: the waves of bewilderment passed over the head of my understanding.
خیره گشتم خیرگی هم خیره گشت ** موج حیرت عقل را از سر گذشت
(I thought), ‘What kind of candles are these (that) He hath lighted, so that the eyes of His creatures are screened from them?’
این چگونه شمعها افروختست ** کین دو دیدهی خلق ازینها دوختست
The people had gone to seek a lamp in the presence of that (sevenfold) candle which was surpassing the moon (in splendour).
خلق جویان چراغی گشته بود ** پیش آن شمعی که بر مه میفزود
Wonderful! There was a bandage over their eyes: they were bound by (the Divine destiny implied in the text) He guideth aright those whom He will.1990
چشمبندی بد عجب بر دیدهها ** بندشان میکرد یهدی من یشا
How the seven candles became what seemed like one candle.
شدن آن هفت شمع بر مثال یک شمع
Then I saw the seven (candles) become one, its light cleaving the bosom (rim) of the sky.
باز میدیدم که میشد هفت یک ** میشکافد نور او جیب فلک
Then again that one became seven once more: my intoxication and bewilderment waxed mighty.
باز آن یک بار دیگر هفت شد ** مستی و حیرانی من زفت شد
(There were) such connexions between the candles as may not come (may not be uttered) on my tongue and (in) my speech.
اتصالاتی میان شمعها ** که نیاید بر زبان و گفت ما
That which one look perceives, ’tis impossible during years to show it forth by the tongue.
آنک یک دیدن کند ادارک آن ** سالها نتوان نمودن از زبان
That which intellectual apprehension sees in one moment, ’tis impossible during years to hear it by the ear.1995
آنک یک دم بیندش ادراک هوش ** سالها نتوان شنودن آن بگوش