Rumi's Masnavi - Thou art afflicting me. Ah, help (me), O Thou by whose affliction men are (made weak) as women.

Thou art afflicting me. Ah, help (me), O Thou by whose affliction men are (made weak) as women.

ابتلاام می‌کنی آه الغیاث ** ای ذکور از ابتلاات چون اناث

How long (will) this affliction (continue)? Do not (afflict me), O Lord! Bestow on me one path, do not make me follow ten paths!

تا بکی این ابتلا یا رب مکن ** مذهبی‌ام بخش و ده‌مذهب مکن

I am (like) an emaciated camel, and my back is wounded by my free-will which resembles a pack-saddle.

اشتری‌ام لاغری و پشت ریش ** ز اختیار هم‌چو پالان‌شکل خویش

At one moment this pannier weighs heavily on this side, at another moment that pannier sags to that side. 215

این کژاوه گه شود این سو گران ** آن کژاوه گه شود آن سو کشان

Let the ill-balanced load drop from me, that I may behold the meadow of the pious.

بفکن از من حمل ناهموار را ** تا ببینم روضه‌ی ابرار را

(Then), like the Fellows of the Cave, I shall browse on the orchard of Bounty— not awake, nay, they are asleep.

هم‌چو آن اصحاب کهف از باغ جود ** می‌چرم ایقاظ نی بل هم رقود

I shall recline on the right or on the left, I shall not roll save involuntarily, like a ball,

خفته باشم بر یمین یا بر یسار ** برنگردم جز چو گو بی‌اختیار

Just as Thou, O Lord of the Judgement, turnest me over either to the right or to the left.

هم به تقلیب تو تا ذات الیمین ** یا سوی ذات الشمال ای رب دین

Hundreds of thousands of years I was flying (to and fro) involuntarily, like the motes in the air. 220

صد هزاران سال بودم در مطار ** هم‌چو ذرات هوا بی‌اختیار

If I have forgotten that time and state, (yet) the migration in sleep (to the spiritual world) recalls it to my memory.

گر فراموشم شدست آن وقت و حال ** یادگارم هست در خواب ارتحال

(Every night) I escape from this four-branched cross and spring away from this (confined) halting-place into the (spacious) pasture of the spirit.

می‌رهم زین چارمیخ چارشاخ ** می‌جهم در مسرح جان زین مناخ

From the nurse, Sleep, I suck the milk of those bygone days of mine, O Lord.

شیر آن ایام ماضیهای خود ** می‌چشم از دایه‌ی خواب ای صمد

All the (people in the) world are fleeing from their free-will and (self-)existence to their drunken (unconscious) side.

جمله عالم ز اختیار و هست خود ** می‌گریزد در سر سرمست خود

In order that for awhile they may be delivered from sobriety (consciousness), they lay upon themselves the opprobrium of wine and minstrelsy. 225

تا دمی از هوشیاری وا رهند ** ننگ خمر و زمر بر خود می‌نهند

All know that this existence is a snare, that volitional thought and memory are a hell.

جمله دانسته کای این هستی فخ است ** فکر و ذکر اختیاری دوزخ است

They are fleeing from selfhood into selflessness either by means of intoxication or by means of (some engrossing) occupation, O well-conducted man.

می‌گریزند از خودی در بیخودی ** یا به مستی یا به شغل ای مهتدی

Thou (O God) drawest the soul back from that state of not-being because it entered into unconsciousness without Thy command.

نفس را زان نیستی وا می‌کشی ** زانک بی‌فرمان شد اندر بیهشی

Neither for the Jinn (genies) nor for mankind is it (possible) to pierce through the prison of the regions of the temporal world.

لیس للجن و لا للانس ان ** ینفذوا من حبس اقطار الزمن

There is no piercing through the cavities of the highest heavens save by the power of Guidance. 230

لا نفوذ الا بسلطان الهدی ** من تجاویف السموات العلی

There is no guidance save by a power that preserves the spirit of the devout from the keepers of the shooting stars.

لا هدی الا بسلطان یقی ** من حراس الشهب روح المتقی

There is no way (admittance) for any one, till he become naughted, into the audience-chamber of (Divine) Majesty.

هیچ کس را تا نگردد او فنا ** نیست ره در بارگاه کبریا

What is the means of ascension to Heaven? This not-being. Not-being is the creed and religion of the lovers (of God).

چیست معراج فلک این نیستی ** عاشقان را مذهب و دین نیستی

From self-abasement in the way of Love the fur jacket and rustic shoon became the prayer-niche of Ayáz.

پوستین و چارق آمد از نیاز ** در طریق عشق محراب ایاز

Even though he was beloved by the king (Mahmúd), and was charming and beauteous outwardly and inwardly— 235

گرچه او خود شاه را محبوب بود ** ظاهر و باطن لطیف و خوب بود

(For) he had become devoid of any arrogance or ostentation or malice, and his face was a mirror for the beauty of the king—

گشته بی‌کبر و ریا و کینه‌ای ** حسن سلطان را رخش آیینه‌ای