How shall I flee (from Thee), since without Thee none liveth, and without Thy lordship no slave hath existence?
چون گریزم زانک بی تو زنده نیست ** بی خداوندیت بود بنده نیست
Take my life, O Source of my life, for without Thee I have become weary of my life.
جان من بستان تو ای جان را اصول ** زانک بیتو گشتهام از جان ملول
I am in love with the art of madness, I am surfeited with wisdom and sagacity.
عاشقم من بر فن دیوانگی ** سیرم از فرهنگی و فرزانگی
When (the veil of) shame is rent asunder, I will publicly declare the mystery: how much (more) of this self-restraint and griping pain and tremor?
چون بدرد شرم گویم راز فاش ** چند ازین صبر و زحیر و ارتعاش
I have become concealed in shame, like the fringe (sewn on the inside of a garment): I will spring forth of a sudden from beneath this coverlet.575
در حیا پنهان شدم همچون سجاف ** ناگهان بجهم ازین زیر لحاف
O comrades, the Beloved has barred the ways: we are lame deer and He a hunting lion.
ای رفیقان راهها را بست یار ** آهوی لنگیم و او شیر شکار
(For one who is) in the clutch of a fierce bloodthirsty lion where is any resource except resignation and acquiescence?
جز که تسلیم و رضا کو چارهای ** در کف شیر نری خونخوارهای
He, like the sun, hath neither sleep nor food: He makes the spirits (also) to be without food and sleep,
او ندارد خواب و خور چون آفتاب ** روحها را میکند بیخورد و خواب
Saying, “Come, be Me or one with Me in nature, that thou mayest behold My Face when I unveil Myself.
که بیا من باش یا همخوی من ** تا ببینی در تجلی روی من
And if thou hadst not beheld it, how shouldst thou have become so distraught? Thou wert earth, (and now) thou hast become one who seeks to be quickened (with spiritual life).”580
ور ندیدی چون چنین شیدا شدی ** خاک بودی طالب احیا شدی
If He has not given you provender from the (world that is) without spatial relations, how has your spiritual eye remained (fixed) on that region?
گر ز بیسویت ندادست او علف ** چشم جانت چون بماندست آن طرف
The cat became intent on (watching) the (mouse)-hole because she had (formerly) provisioned herself from that hole.
گربه بر سوراخ زان شد معتکف ** که از آن سوراخ او شد معتلف
Another cat prowls on the roof because she (formerly) obtained food by preying on birds.
گربهی دیگر همیگردد به بام ** کز شکار مرغ یابید او طعام
One man's qibla (object of attention) is the weaver's craft, while another is a guardsman for the sake of the (king's) allowance;
آن یکی را قبله شد جولاهگی ** وآن یکی حارس برای جامگی
And another is unemployed, his face (turned) towards (the world of) non-spatiality because Thou (formerly) gavest him spiritual food from that quarter.585
وان یکی بیکار و رو در لامکان ** که از آن سو دادیش تو قوت جان
He has the (real) work who has become desirous of God and for His work's sake has severed himself from every (other) work.
کار او دارد که حق را شد مرید ** بهر کار او ز هر کاری برید
The rest are like children playing, these few days, till the departure at nightfall.
دیگران چون کودکان این روز چند ** تا شب ترحال بازی میکنند
The drowsy one who awakes and springs up, him the nurse, evil suggestion, beguiles,
خوابناکی کو ز یقظت میجهد ** دایهی وسواس عشوهش میدهد
Saying, “Go to sleep, my darling, for I will not let any one arouse thee from (thy heedless) slumber.”
رو بخسپ ای جان که نگذاریم ما ** که کسی از خواب بجهاند ترا
You yourself (if you are wise) will tear up your slumber by the roots, like the thirsty man who heard the noise of the water.590
هم تو خود را بر کنی از بیخ خواب ** همچو تشنه که شنود او بانک آب
(God says to you), “I am the noise of the water in the ears of the thirsty: I am coming like rain from heaven.
بانگ آبم من به گوش تشنگان ** همچو باران میرسم از آسمان
Spring up, O lover, exhibit agitation: noise of water and (you) thirsty, and then to fall asleep!”
بر جه ای عاشق برآور اضطراب ** بانگ آب و تشنه و آنگاه خواب
Story of the lover who, in hope of the tryst promised (to him) by his beloved, came at night to the house that he had indicated. He waited (there) part of the night; (then) he was overcome by sleep. (When) his beloved came to fulfil his promise and found him asleep, he filled his lap with walnuts and left him sleeping and returned (home).
حکایت آن عاشق کی شب بیامد بر امید وعدهی معشوق بدان وثاقی کی اشارت کرده بود و بعضی از شب منتظر ماند و خوابش بربود معشوق آمد بهر انجاز وعده او را خفته یافت جیبش پر جوز کرد و او را خفته گذاشت و بازگشت
In the days of old there was a lover, one who kept troth in his time.
عاشقی بودست در ایام پیش ** پاسبان عهد اندر عهد خویش
For years (he had been) checkmated (irretrievably caught) in the toils of (seeking) his fair one's favour and mated by his king.
سالها در بند وصل ماه خود ** شاهمات و مات شاهنشاه خود
In the end the seeker is a finder, for from patience joy is born.595
عاقبت جوینده یابنده بود ** که فرج از صبر زاینده بود