- 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
- (Yet ’twas only) because he was far removed from his (self-) existence, (that) the end of his affair was praiseworthy.
- چونک از هستی خود او دور شد ** منتهای کار او محمود بد
- The steadfastness of Ayáz was all the firmer forasmuch as he was taking (those) precautions in fear of arrogance.
- زان قویتر بود تمکین ایاز ** که ز خوف کبر کردی احتراز
- He had been purified, and he had come and smitten the neck of (had beheaded) arrogance and selfishness.
- او مهذب گشته بود و آمده ** کبر را و نفس را گردن زده
- He was practising these devices either for the purpose of instructing (others) or for the sake of some principle of wisdom far removed from fear; 240
- یا پی تعلیم میکرد آن حیل ** یا برای حکمتی دور از وجل