Firstly, hear that when I abandoned (thy) net the first and the last {this world and the next) shot away (disappeared) from before me;
اولا بشنو که چون ماندم ز شست ** اول و آخر ز پیش من بجست
Secondly, hear, O loving Prince, that I sought long, (but) there was no second to thee;
ثانیا بشنو تو ای صدر ودود ** که بسی جستم ترا ثانی نبود
Thirdly, since I have gone away from thee, ‘tis as though I have said, ‘the third of three’;4705
ثالثا تا از تو بیرون رفته‌ام ** گوییا ثالث ثلاثه گفته‌ام
Fourthly, forasmuch as my cornfield is burnt-up, I do not know the fifth (finger) from the fourth.
رابعا چون سوخت ما را مزرعه ** می ندانم خامسه از رابعه
Wherever thou findest blood on the sods, (if) thou investigate, it will certainly (prove to) be (blood) from mine eye.
هر کجا یابی تو خون بر خاکها ** پی بری باشد یقین از چشم ما
My words are (as) the thunder, and this noise and moaning demands of the cloud that it should rain upon the earth.
گفت من رعدست و این بانگ و حنین ** ز ابر خواهد تا ببارد بر زمین
Between words and tears I continue (in doubt) whether I should weep or speak: hew shall I do?
من میان گفت و گریه می‌تنم ** یا بگریم یا بگویم چون کنم
If I speak, the weeping will be lost; and if I weep, how shall I render thanks and praise?4710
گر بگویم فوت می‌گردد بکا ** ور نگویم چون کنم شکر و ثنا
Heart’s blood is falling from mine eye, O King: see what has befallen me from mine eye!”
می‌فتد از دیده خون دل شها ** بین چه افتادست از دیده مرا
The emaciated man said this and began to weep (so violently) that both base and noble wept for him.
این بگفت و گریه در شد آن نحیف ** که برو بگریست هم دون هم شریف
So many ecstatic cries came up from his heart (that) the people of Bukhárá made a ring around him.
از دلش چندان بر آمد های هوی ** حلقه کرد اهل بخارا گرد اوی
(He was) speaking crazily, weeping crazily, laughing crazily: men and women, small and great were bewildered.
خیره گویان خیره گریان خیره‌خند ** مرد و زن خرد و کلان حیران شدند
The (whole) city, too, shed tears in conformity with him: men and women were gathered together as (at) the Resurrection.4715
شهر هم هم‌رنگ او شد اشک ریز ** مرد و زن درهم شده چون رستخیز
At that moment the heaven was saying to the earth, “If thou hast never seen the Resurrection, behold it (now)!”
آسمان می‌گفت آن دم با زمین ** گر قیامت را ندیدستی ببین
The intellect (was) bewildered, saying, "What is love and what is ecstasy? (I know not) whether separation from Him or union with Him is the more marvellous."
عقل حیران که چه عشق است و چه حال ** تا فراق او عجب‌تر یا وصال
The sky read the letter (announcement) of Resurrection (and was so distraught that) it rent its garment up to the Milky Way.
چرخ بر خوانده قیامت‌نامه را ** تا مجره بر دریده جامه را
Love bath estrangement with (is a stranger to) the two worlds: in it are two-and-seventy madnesses.
با دو عالم عشق را بیگانگی ** اندرو هفتاد و دو دیوانگی
It is exceedingly hidden, and (only) its bewilderment is manifest the soul of the spiritual sultans is pining for it4720
سخت پنهانست و پیدا حیرتش ** جان سلطانان جان در حسرتش
Its religion is other than (that of) the two-and-seventy sects: beside it the throne of Kings is (but) a splint-bandage.
غیر هفتاد و دو ملت کیش او ** تخت شاهان تخته‌بندی پیش او
At the time of the samá’ Love’s minstrel strikes up this (strain): “Servitude is chains and lordship headache.”
مطرب عشق این زند وقت سماع ** بندگی بند و خداوندی صداع
Then what is Love? The Sea of Not-being: there the foot of the intellect is shattered.
پس چه باشد عشق دریای عدم ** در شکسته عقل را آنجا قدم
Servitude and sovereignty are known: loverhood is concealed by these two veils.
بندگی و سلطنت معلوم شد ** زین دو پرده عاشقی مکتوم شد
Would that Being had a tongue; that it might remove the veils from existent beings!4725
کاشکی هستی زبانی داشتی ** تا ز هستان پرده‌ها برداشتی
O breath of (phenomenal) existence, whatsoever words thou mayest utter, know that thereby thou hast bound another veil upon it (the mystery).
هر چه گویی ای دم هستی از آن ** پرده‌ی دیگر برو بستی بدان
That utterance and (that) state (of existence) are the bane of (spiritual) perception: to wash away blood with blood is absurd, absurd.
آفت ادراک آن قالست و حال ** خون بخون شستن محالست و محال
Since I am familiar with His frenzied ones, day and night I am breathing forth (the secrets of Love) in the cage (of phenomenal existence).
من چو با سوداییانش محرمم ** روز و شب اندر قفص در می‌دمم
Thou art mightily drunken and senseless and distraught: yesternight on which side hast thou slept, O (my) soul?
سخت مست و بی‌خود و آشفته‌ای ** دوش ای جان بر چه پهلو خفته‌ای
Beware, beware! Take heed lest thou utter a breath! First spring up and seek a trusted friend.4730
هان و هان هش دار بر ناری دمی ** اولا بر جه طلب کن محرمی
Thou art a lover and intoxicated, and thy tongue (is) loosed! —God! God! thou art (like) the camel on the water-spout!
عاشق و مستی و بگشاده زبان ** الله الله اشتری بر ناودان
When the tongue tells of His mystery and coquetry, Heaven chants (the prayer), “O Thou that art goodly in covering!”
چون ز راز و ناز او گوید زبان ** یا جمیل الستر خواند آسمان
What covering (can there be)? The fire is in the wool cotton whilst thou art covering it up, it is (all the) more manifest.
ستر چه در پشم و پنبه آذرست ** تا همی‌پوشیش او پیداترست
When I endeavour to hide His (Love’s) secret, He lifts up His head, like a banner, saying, “Look, here am I!”
چون بکوشم تا سرش پنهان کنم ** سر بر آرد چون علم کاینک منم
In despite of me He seizes both my ears, saying, “O scatter-brain, how wilt thou cover it Cover it (if thou canst)!”4735
رغم انفم گیردم او هر دو گوش ** کای مدمغ چونش می‌پوشی بپوش
I say to Him, “Begone! Though thou hast bubbled up (hast become fervid), (yet) thou art (both) manifest and concealed, like the soul.”
گویمش رو گرچه بر جوشیده‌ای ** همچو جان پیدایی و پوشیده‌ای
He says, “This body of mine is imprisoned in the jar, (but) like wine I am clapping hands (making a merry noise) at the banquet.”
گوید او محبوس خنبست این تنم ** چون می اندر بزم خنبک می‌زنم
I say to Him, “Go ere thou art put in pawn (confinement) lest the bane of intoxication befall (thee).”
گویمش زان پیش که گردی گرو ** تا نیاید آفت مستی برو
He says, “I befriend the day with (my) delicious cup until the evening-prayer.
گوید از جام لطیف‌آشام من ** یار روزم تا نماز شام من
When evening comes and steals my cup, I will say to it, ‘Give (it) back, for my evening hath not come.’”4740
چون بیاید شام و دزدد جام من ** گویمش وا ده که نامد شام من
Hence the Arabs applied the name mudám to wine, because the wine-drinker is never sated.
زان عرب بنهاد نام می مدام ** زانک سیری نیست می‌خور را مدام
Love makes the wine of realisation to bubble: He is the cup-bearer to the siddíq (true lover) in secret.
عشق جوشد باده‌ی تحقیق را ** او بود ساقی نهان صدیق را
When you seek (the reality) with good help (from God), the water (essence) of the spirit is the wine, and the body is the flagon.
چون بجویی تو بتوفیق حسن ** باده آب جان بود ابریق تن
When He increases the wine of His help, the potency of the wine bursts the flagon.
چون بیفزاید می توفیق را ** قوت می بشکند ابریق را
The water (the spirit) becomes the Cup-bearer, and the water (is) also the drunken man. Tell not how! And Go best knoweth the right.4745
آب گردد ساقی و هم مست آب ** چون مگو والله اعلم بالصواب
‘Tis the radiance of the Cup-bearer that entered into the must: the must bubbled up and began to dance and waxed strong.
پرتو ساقیست کاندر شیره رفت ** شیره بر جوشید و رقصان گشت و زفت
On this matter, ask the heedless (sceptic), “When did you (ever) see must like this?”
اندرین معنی بپرس آن خیره را ** که چنین کی دیده بودی شیره را
To every one who hath knowledge it is (self-evident) without reflection, that together with the person disturbed there is a Disturber.
بی تفکر پیش هر داننده هست ** آنک با شوریده شوراننده هست
Story of the lover who had been long separated (from his beloved) and had suffered much tribulation.
حکایت عاشقی دراز هجرانی بسیار امتحانی
A certain youth was madly enamoured of a woman: the fortune of union was not granted to him.
یک جوانی بر زنی مجنون بدست ** می‌ندادش روزگار وصل دست
Love tortured him exceedingly on the earth: why, in sooth, does Love bear hatred (to the lover) from the first?4750
بس شکنجه کرد عشقش بر زمین ** خود چرا دارد ز اول عشق کین
Why is Love murderous from the first, so that he who is an outsider runs away?
عشق از اول چرا خونی بود ** تا گریزد آنک بیرونی بود
Whenever he sent a messenger to the woman, the messenger because of jealousy would become a highwayman (barring the way against him);
چون فرستادی رسولی پیش زن ** آن رسول از رشک گشتی راه‌زن