(That) a heavenly voice said to him, “O you who have seen trouble, search among the (loose) leaves of handwriting sold (as models) by stationers for a certain scroll.
هاتفی گفتش کای دیده تعب ** رقعه‌ای در مشق وراقان طلب
Unobserved by the stationer who is your neighbour, bring your hand into touch with his papers.1910
خفیه زان وراق کت همسایه است ** سوی کاغذپاره‌هاش آور تو دست
It is a scroll of such a shape and such a colour: then (as soon as possible) read it in privacy, O sorrowful one.
رقعه‌ای شکلش چنین رنگش چنین ** بس بخوان آن را به خلوت ای حزین
When you steal it from the stationer, my lad, then go out of the crowd and the noise and turmoil,
چون بدزدی آن ز وراق ای پسر ** پس برون رو ز انبهی و شور و شر
And read it by yourself in some lonely place: beware, do not seek any partnership in reading it.
تو بخوان آن را به خود در خلوتی ** هین مجو در خواندن آن شرکتی
But even if it (the secret) be divulged, do not be anxious, for none but you will get (so much as) half a barley-corn thereof.
ور شود آن فاش هم غمگین مشو ** که نیابد غیر تو زان نیم جو
And if it (the affair) be long drawn out, beware and take heed! Make (the text) do not ye despair your litany at every moment.”1915
ور کشد آن دیر هان زنهار تو ** ورد خود کن دم به دم لاتقنطوا
The (heavenly) announcer of the good news said this and put his hand on his (the fakir's) heart, saying, “Go, endure the toil.”
این بگفت و دست خود آن مژده‌ور ** بر دل او زد که رو زحمت ببر
When the youth came back to himself after the absence, on account of his joy he could not be contained in the world.
چون به خویش آمد ز غیبت آن جوان ** می‌نگنجید از فرح اندر جهان
Had it not been for the tender care and protection and favour of God, his gallbladder would have burst from agitation.
زهره‌ی او بر دریدی از قلق ** گر نبودی رفق و حفظ و لطف حق
One (cause of) joy was this, that after (having passed through) six hundred veils his ear had heard the answer (to his prayer) from the (Divine) Presence.
یک فرح آن کز پس شصد حجاب ** گوش او بشنید از حضرت جواب
When his auditory sense had pierced through the veils, he raised his head aloft and passed beyond the skies,1920
از حجب چون حس سمعش در گذشت ** شد سرافراز و ز گردون بر گذشت
(Thinking) that maybe, by taking the lesson to heart, his sense of sight would also find a passage through the veil of the Unseen,
که بود کان حس چشمش ز اعتبار ** زان حجاب غیب هم یابد گذار
And that when (both) his senses had passed through the veil, his vision and allocution (from God) would then be continuous.
چون گذاره شد حواسش از حجاب ** پس پیاپی گرددش دید و خطاب
(So) he came to the stationer's shop and (for some time) was laying his hand here and there on his (the stationer's) models for writing.
جانب دکان وراق آمد او ** دست می‌برد او به مشقش سو به سو
Suddenly that piece of script, with the distinctive marks which the heavenly voice had mentioned, caught his eye.
پیش چشمش آمد آن مکتوب زود ** با علاماتی که هاتف گفته بود
He slipped it under his arm and said, “Good-bye, Khwája: I will come back presently, O master.”1925
در بغل زد گفت خواجه خیر باد ** این زمان وا می‌رسم ای اوستاد
He went into a solitary nook and read it and remained lost in bewilderment and amazement,
رفت کنج خلوتی و آن را بخواند ** وز تحیر واله و حیران بماند
(Wondering) how a priceless treasure-scroll of this sort had fallen and been left among the (stationer's) papers.
که بدین سان گنج‌نامه‌ی بی‌بها ** چون فتاده ماند اندر مشقها
(Then) again the thought darted into his mind, that God is the guardian for everything,
باز اندر خاطرش این فکر جست ** کز پی هر چیز یزدان حافظست
(And) how should the Guardian, in (His) circumspection, let any one recklessly carry off anything?
کی گذارد حافظ اندر اکتناف ** که کسی چیزی رباید از گزاف
Though the desert be filled with gold and (silver) money, not a single mite can be taken away without God's approval;1930
گر بیابان پر شود زر و نقود ** بی رضای حق جوی نتوان ربود
And though you read a hundred volumes without a pause, you will not remember a single point (of argument) without the Divine decree;
ور بخوانی صد صحف بی سکته‌ای ** بی قدر یادت نماند نکته‌ای
But if you serve God and do not read a single book, you will learn rare sciences from your (own) bosom.
ور کنی خدمت نخوانی یک کتاب ** علمهای نادره یابی ز جیب
The hand of Moses was spreading from his bosom a radiance that surpassed the moon in the sky,
شد ز جیب آن کف موسی ضو فشان ** کان فزون آمد ز ماه آسمان