Oh, where, I wonder, is that candy-chewing cornelian (lip), the key to the lock of our perplexities?
ای عجب کو آن عقیق قندخا ** آن کلید قفل مشکل‌های ما
Oh, where, I wonder, is that breath (keen) as Dhu ’l-faqár, that used to make our understandings distraught?
ای عجب کو آن دم چون ذوالفقار ** آنک کردی عقل‌ها را بی‌قرار
How long, like a ringdove seeking her nest, (shall I cry) ‘where (kú) and where and where and where and where and where?’
چند هم‌چون فاخته کاشانه‌جو ** کو و کو و کو و کو و کو و کو
Where (is he now)? In the place where are the Attributes of (Divine) Mercy, and (the Divine) Power and Transcendence, and (celestial) Intelligence.3315
کو همان‌جا که صفات رحمتست ** قدرتست و نزهتست و فطنتست
Where (is he now)? In the same place where his heart and thought always dwelt, like the lion in his jungle.
کو همان‌جا که دل و اندیشه‌اش ** دایم آن‌جا بد چو شیر و بیشه‌اش
Where (is he now)? In that place whither the hope of (every) man and woman turns in the hour of anguish and sorrow.
کو همان‌جا که امید مرد و زن ** می‌رود در وقت اندوه و حزن
Where (is he now)? In the place to which in time of illness the eye takes wing in hope of (regaining) health—
کو همان‌جا که به وقت علتی ** چشم پرد بر امید صحتی
In that quarter where, in order to avert a calamity, you seek wind for (winnowing) the corn or (speeding) a ship (on its way);
آن طرف که بهر دفع زشتیی ** باد جویی بهر کشت و کشتیی
In that quarter which is signified by the heart when the tongue utters the expression ‘Yá Hú.’3320
آن طرف که دل اشارت می‌کند ** چون زبان یا هو عبارت می‌کند
He is always with God (and) beyond ‘where? where?’ (kú, kú). Would that like weavers I might have said má kú!
او مع‌الله است بی کو کو همی ** کاش جولاهانه ماکو گفتمی
Where is our reason, that it should (be able to) perceive the spiritual West and East (the universal Divine epiphany) flashing forth a hundred kinds of splendour?
عقل ما کو تا ببیند غرب و شرق ** روح‌ها را می‌زند صد گونه برق
His (the Khwája's) ebb and flow was caused by a (great) foaming Sea: (now) the ebb has ceased and (only) the flow remains.
جزر و مدش بد به بحری در زبد ** منتهی شد جزر و باقی ماند مد
I am nine thousand (dinars) in debt and have no resources: there are (only) a hundred dinars, (resulting) from this subscription.
نه هزارم وام و من بی دست‌رس ** هست صد دینار ازین توزیع و بس
God hath withdrawn thee (from this world) and I am left in agony: I am going (hence) in despair, O thou whose dust is sweet!3325
حق کشیدت ماندم در کش‌مکش ** می‌روم نومید ای خاک تو خوش
Keep in thy mind a prayer for thy grief-stricken (mourner), O thou whose face and hands and prayers are auspicious.
همتی می‌دار در پر حسرتت ** ای همایون روی و دست و همتت
I come to the spring and the source of (all) fountains: I find in it instead of water blood.
آمدم بر چشمه و اصل عیون ** یافتم در وی به جای آب خون
The sky is the same sky, (but) ’tis not the same moonlight: the river is the same river, (but) the water is not the same water.
چرخ آن چرخست آن مهتاب نیست ** جوی آن جویست آب آن آب نیست
There are benefactors, (but) where is that one who was found (by all) to be (supremely) good? There are stars, (but) where is that sun?
محسنان هستند کو آن مستطاب ** اختران هستند کو آن آفتاب
Thou hast gone unto God, O venerated man: I too, therefore, will go unto God.”3330
تو شدی سوی خدا ای محترم ** پس به سوی حق روم من نیز هم
God is the assembly-place where the generations (of mankind) are mustered under His banner: all are brought before Us.
مجمع و پای علم ماوی القرون ** هست حق کل لدینا محضرون
The pictures (phenomenal forms), whether unconscious or conscious (of it), are (always) present in the hand of the Painter.
نقش‌ها گر بی‌خبر گر با خبر ** در کف نقاش باشد محتصر
Moment by moment that traceless One is setting down (what He will) on the page of their thought and (then) obliterating it.
دم به دم در صفحه‌ی اندیشه‌شان ** ثبت و محوی می‌کند آن بی‌نشان
He is putting anger (there) and taking acquiescence away: He is putting stinginess (there) and taking generosity away.
خشم می‌آرد رضا را می‌برد ** بخل می‌آرد سخا را می‌برد
Never for (even) half a wink at eve or morn are my ideas exempt from this (process of) imprinting (on the mind) and obliterating.3335
نیم لحظه مدرکاتم شام و غدو ** هیچ خالی نیست زین اثبات و محو
The potter works at the pot to fashion it: how should the pot become broad and long of itself?
کوزه‌گر با کوزه باشد کارساز ** کوزه از خود کی شود پهن و دراز