Wherever the carpet is (spread) for our King, (there) is the (spacious) plain, though it (that place) be (as narrow as) the eye of a needle.3810
هرکجا باشد شه ما را بساط ** هست صحرا گر بود سم الخیاط
Wherever a Joseph (beautiful) as the moon may be, ’tis Paradise, even though it be the bottom of a well.
هر کجا که یوسفی باشد چو ماه ** جنتست ارچه که باشد قعر چاه
How his friends hindered him from returning to Bukhárá and threatened him, and how he said, “I don't care.”
منع کردن دوستان او را از رجوع کردن به بخارا وتهدید کردن و لاابالی گفتن او
A candid adviser said to him, “O imprudent man, think of the end (consequence), if thou hast (any) skill.
گفت او را ناصحی ای بی‌خبر ** عاقبت اندیش اگر داری هنر
Consider reasonably the future and the past: do not let thyself be burnt like a moth.
درنگر پس را به عقل و پیش را ** همچو پروانه مسوزان خویش را
How art thou going to Bukhárá? Thou art mad, thou art (only) fit for chains and the prison-house.
چون بخارا می‌روی دیوانه‌ای ** لایق زنجیر و زندان‌خانه‌ای
He (the Sadr-i Jahán) is champing iron in his wrath against thee; he is seeking thee with twenty eyes.3815
او ز تو آهن همی‌خاید ز خشم ** او همی‌جوید ترا با بیست چشم
He is sharpening the knife for thee: he is (like) the starving dog, and thou (like) the bag of flour.
می‌کند او تیز از بهر تو کارد ** او سگ قحطست و تو انبان آرد
After thou hast escaped and God has given thee the (open) road, thou art going (back) to prison: what is the matter with thee?
چون رهیدی و خدایت راه داد ** سوی زندان می‌روی چونت فتاد
Had there been ten sorts of custodians over thee, intelligence would have been needed in order that thou might'st become quit of them.
بر تو گر ده‌گون موکل آمدی ** عقل بایستی کز ایشان کم زدی
Since no one is a custodian over thee, wherefore have the future and the past become sealed to thee?”
چون موکل نیست بر تو هیچ‌کس ** از چه بسته گشت بر تو پیش و پس
Secret love had made him (the Wakíl) captive: the warner (his critic) was not seeing that custodian.3820
عشق پنهان کرده بود او را اسیر ** آن موکل را نمی‌دید آن نذیر
Every custodian's custodian is hidden; else, wherefore is he (the wicked custodian) in thrall to (his) currish nature?
هر موکل را موکل مختفیست ** ورنه او در بند سگ طبعی ز چیست
The anger of Love, the King, settled upon his soul and chained him to the (base) office of a myrmidon and to ignominy.
خشم شاه عشق بر جانش نشست ** بر عوانی و سیه‌روییش بست
It (anger) is striking him and saying, “Hark, strike him (thy captive)!” Woe is me on account of those hidden myrmidons.
می‌زند او را که هین او رابزن ** زان عوانان نهان افغان من
Whomsoever you see going in a (path of) detriment, he, though (apparently) alone, is going along with a (hidden) myrmidon.
هرکه بینی در زیانی می‌رود ** گرچه تنها با عوانی می‌رود
If he were aware of him, he would cry out in distress and go into the presence of the King of kings,3825
گر ازو واقف بدی افغان زدی ** پیش آن سلطان سلطانان شدی
And scatter earth on his head before the King, that he might find security from the frightful Devil.
ریختی بر سر به پیش شاه خاک ** تا امان دیدی ز دیو سهمناک
(But) you, O less than an ant, deemed yourself a prince: hence, blind (as you are), you did not see that custodian.
میر دیدی خویش را ای کم ز مور ** زان ندیدی آن موکل را تو کور
You were deluded by these false wings and plumes—the wings and plumes that lead to woe.
غره گشتی زین دروغین پر و بال ** پر و بالی کو کشد سوی وبال
(If) he keep his wings light (unencumbered), he journeys upward; when he becomes defiled with earth, he makes heavinesses (which weigh him down).
پر سبک دارد ره بالا کند ** چون گل‌آلو شد گرانیها کند
How the lover, impelled by love, said “I don't care” to the person who counselled and scolded him.
لاابالی گفتن عاشق ناصح و عاذل را از سر عشق
He said, “O counsellor, be silent! How long, how long (wilt thou chide)? Do not give advice, for the bonds (on me) are very grievous.3830
گفت ای ناصح خمش کن چند چند ** پند کم ده زانک بس سختست بند
My bonds are more grievous than thy advice: thy doctor (who taught thee) was not acquainted with love.
سخت‌تر شد بند من از پند تو ** عشق را نشناخت دانشمند تو
In that quarter where love was increasing (my) pain, Bú Hanífa and Sháfi‘í gave no instruction.
آن طرف که عشق می‌افزود درد ** بوحنیفه و شافعی درسی نکرد
Do not thou threaten me with being killed, for I thirst lamentably for mine own blood.”
تو مکن تهدید از کشتن که من ** تشنه‌ی زارم به خون خویشتن
For lovers, there is a dying at every moment: verily, the dying of lovers is not of one sort.
عاشقان را هر زمانی مردنیست ** مردن عشاق خود یک نوع نیست
He (the lover) hath two hundred souls (lives) from the Soul of Guidance, and those two hundred he is sacrificing at every instant.3835
او دو صد جان دارد از جان هدی ** وآن دوصد را می‌کند هر دم فدی
For each soul (life) he receives ten as its price: read from the Qur’án “ten like unto them.”
هر یکی جان را ستاند ده بها ** از نبی خوان عشرة امثالها
If that One of friendly countenance shed my blood, dancing (in triumph) I will strew (lavish) my soul (life) upon Him.
گر بریزد خون من آن دوست‌رو ** پای‌کوبان جان برافشانم برو
I have tried it: my death is (consists) in life: when I escape from this life, ’tis to endure for ever.
آزمودم مرگ من در زندگیست ** چون رهم زین زندگی پایندگیست
“Kill me, kill me, O trusty friends! Lo, in my being killed is life on life.”
اقتلونی اقتلونی یا ثقات ** ان فی قتلی حیاتا فی حیات
O Thou that makest the cheek radiant, O Spirit of everlastingness, draw my spirit to Thyself and generously bestow on me the meeting (with Thee).3840
یا منیر الخد یا روح البقا ** اجتذب روحی وجد لی باللقا
I have a Beloved whose love roasts the bowels (of my heart): if He wished to walk upon mine eye, He would walk (upon it, and be welcome).
لی حبیب حبه یشوی الحشا ** لو یشا یمشی علی عینی مشی
Speak Persian, though Arabic is sweeter: Love indeed hath a hundred other tongues (besides these two).
پارسی گو گرچه تازی خوشترست ** عشق را خود صد زبان دیگرست
When the scent of that Charmer of hearts begins to fly (abroad), all those tongues become dumbfounded.
بوی آن دلبر چو پران می‌شود ** آن زبانها جمله حیران می‌شود
I will cease (from speech): the Sweetheart has begun to speak, be (all) ear—and God best knoweth the right course.
بس کنم دلبر در آمد در خطاب ** گوش شو والله اعلم بالصواب
Since the lover has repented, now beware (of misapprehension), for he will lecture, like the adepts (in mystical love), on the gallows.3845
چونک عاشق توبه کرد اکنون بترس ** کو چو عیاران کند بر دار درس
Although this lover is going to Bukhárá, he is not going to (attend) lectures or to (learn from) a teacher.
گرچه این عاشق بخارا می‌رود ** نه به درس و نه به استا می‌رود
For lovers, the (only) lecturer is the beauty of the Beloved, their (only) book and lecture and lesson is His face.
عاشقان را شد مدرس حسن دوست ** دفتر و درس و سبقشان روی اوست
They are silent (outwardly), but the shrill noise of their repetition is going up to the throne and high-seat of their Friend.
خامشند و نعره‌ی تکرارشان ** می‌رود تا عرش و تخت یارشان
Their (only) lesson is enthusiasm and the whirling dance and quaking agitation; not the Ziyádát and the chapter on “the chain.”
درسشان آشوب و چرخ و زلزله ** نه زیاداتست و باب سلسله
The “chain” of these people (the lovers of God) is the musk-dropping curls (of the Beloved); they have the question of “the circle,” but it is the “circle” of the Friend.3850
سلسله‌ی این قوم جعد مشکبار ** مسله‌ی دورست لیکن دور یار
If any one ask you about the question of “the purse,” tell (him) that God's treasure is not contained in purses.
مسله‌ی کیس ار بپرسد کس ترا ** گو نگنجد گنج حق در کیسه‌ها
If talk of khul‘ and mubárá is going on (among them), do not disapprove: (inwardly) mention is being made of “Bukhárá.”
گر دم خلع و مبارا می‌رود ** بد مبین ذکر بخارا می‌رود
The mention (recollection) of any thing produces a particular (spiritual) effect, inasmuch as every quality has a quiddity.
ذکر هر چیزی دهد خاصیتی ** زانک دارد هرصفت ماهیتی
In Bukhárá you attain to (perfection in) the sciences: when you turn to lowliness (ba-khwárí), you are freed from them.
در بخارا در هنرها بالغى ** چون به خوارى رو نهى ز آن فارغى
That man of Bukhárá had not the vexation of knowledge: he was fixing his eyes on the sun of vision.3855
آن بخاری غصه‌ی دانش نداشت ** چشم بر خورشید بینش می‌گماشت
No one who in solitude has found the way to vision will seek power by means of the (diverse) kinds of knowledge.
هرکه درخلوت ببینش یافت راه ** او ز دانشها نجوید دستگاه
When he has become a boon-companion to the beauty of the Soul, he will have a disgust of traditional learning and knowledge.
با جمال جان چوشد هم‌کاسه‌ای ** باشدش ز اخبار و دانش تاسه‌ای
Vision is superior to knowledge: hence the present world prevails (over the next world) in the view of the vulgar,
دید بردانش بود غالب فرا ** زان همی دنیا بچربد عامه را
Because they regard this world as ready money, while they deem what concerns that (other) world to be (like) a debt.
زانک دنیا را همی‌بینند عین ** وآن جهانی را همی‌دانند دین
How that loving servant turned his face towards Bukhárá.