From grief for a (long) separation (from Laylá) there came suddenly a sickness into the body of Majnún.
جسم مجنون را ز رنج و دوریی ** اندر آمد ناگهان رنجوریی
(Heated) by the flame of longing his blood boiled up, so that (the symptoms of) quinsy appeared in that mad (lover).2000
خون بجوش آمد ز شعله‌ی اشتیاق ** تا پدید آمد بر آن مجنون خناق
Thereupon the physician came to treat him and said, “There is no resource but to bleed him.
پس طبیب آمد بدار و کردنش ** گفت چاره نیست هیچ از رگ‌زنش
Bleeding is necessary in order to remove the blood.” (So) a skilled phlebotomist came thither,
رگ زدن باید برای دفع خون ** رگ‌زنی آمد بدانجا ذو فنون
And bandaged his arm and took the lancet (to perform the operation); (but) straightway that passionate lover cried out,
بازوش بست و گرفت آن نیش او ** بانک بر زد در زمان آن عشق‌خو
“Take thy fee and leave the bleeding! If I die, let my old body go (to the grave)!”
مزد خود بستان و ترک فصد کن ** گر بمیرم گو برو جسم کهن
“Why,” said he, “wherefore art thou afraid of this, when thou hast no fear of the lion of the jungle?2005
گفت آخر از چه می‌ترسی ازین ** چون نمی‌ترسی تو از شیر عرین
Lions and wolves and bears and onagers and (other) wild animals gather around thee by night;
شیر و گرگ و خرس و هر گور و دده ** گرد بر گرد تو شب گرد آمده
The smell of man does not come to them from thee because of the abundance of love and ecstasy in thy heart.”
می نه آیدشان ز تو بوی بشر ** ز انبهی عشق و وجد اندر جگر
Wolf and bear and lion know what love is: he that is blind to love is inferior to a dog.
گرگ و خرس و شیر داند عشق چیست ** کم ز سگ باشد که از عشق او عمیست
If the dog had not a vein of love, how should the dog of the Cave have sought (to win) the heart (of the Seven Sleepers)?
گر رگ عشقی نبودی کلب را ** کی بجستی کلب کهفی قلب را
Moreover, in the world there is (many a one) of its kind, dog-like in appearance, though it is not celebrated (like the dog of the Cave).2010
هم ز جنس او به صورت چون سگان ** گر نشد مشهور هست اندر جهان
You have not smelt (discerned) the heart in your own kind: how should you smell the heart in wolf and sheep?
بو نبردی تو دل اندر جنس خویش ** کی بری تو بوی دل از گرگ و میش
If there had not been Love, how should there have been existence? How should bread have attached itself to you and become (assimilated to) you?
گر نبودی عشق هستی کی بدی ** کی زدی نان بر تو و کی تو شدی
The bread became you: through what? Through (your) love and appetite; otherwise, how should the bread have had any access to the (vital) spirit?
نان تو شد از چه ز عشق و اشتها ** ورنه نان را کی بدی تا جان رهی
Love makes the dead bread into spirit: it makes the spirit that was perishable everlasting.
عشق نان مرده را می جان کند ** جان که فانی بود جاویدان کند
Majnún said, “I do not fear the lancet: my endurance is greater than the mountain formed of rock.2015
گفت مجنون من نمی‌ترسم ز نیش ** صبر من از کوه سنگین هست بیش
I am a vagabond: my body is not at ease without blows; I am a lover: I am always in close touch with blows.
منبلم بی‌زخم ناساید تنم ** عاشقم بر زخمها بر می‌تنم
But my (whole) being is full of Laylá: this shell is filled with the qualities of that Pearl.
لیک از لیلی وجود من پرست ** این صدف پر از صفات آن درست
I am afraid, O cupper, lest if you let my blood you suddenly inflict a wound with your lancet upon Laylá.
ترسم ای فصاد گر فصدم کنی ** نیش را ناگاه بر لیلی زنی
The (man of) reason whose heart is enlightened knows that between Laylá and me there is no difference.”
داند آن عقلی که او دل‌روشنیست ** در میان لیلی و من فرق نیست
A beloved asked her lover, “Do you love yourself more or me?” He replied, “I am dead to myself and living by thee; I have become non-existent to myself and my own attributes and existent through thee; I have forgotten my own knowledge and have become knowing through thy knowledge; I have lost all thought of my own power and have become powerful through thy power. If I love myself, I must have loved thee, and if I love thee, I must have loved myself.” (Verse): “Whoever possesses the mirror of clairvoyance sees God (even) though he see himself.” (God said to Báyazíd): “Go forth with My attributes to My creatures. Whoso shall see thee shall see Me and whoso shall betake himself unto thee shall betake himself unto Me”; and so on.
معشوقی از عاشق پرسید کی خود را دوست‌تر داری یا مرا گفت من از خود مرده‌ام و به تو زنده‌ام از خود و از صفات خود نیست شده‌ام و به تو هست شده‌ام علم خود را فراموش کرده‌ام و از علم تو عالم شده‌ام قدرت خود را از یاد داده‌ام و از قدرت تو قادر شده‌ام اگر خود را دوست دارم ترا دوست داشته باشم و اگر ترا دوست دارم خود را دوست داشته باشم هر که را آینه‌ی یقین باشد گرچه خود بین خدای بین باشد اخرج به صفاتی الی خلقی من رآک رآنی و من قصدک قصدنی و علی هذا
At the hour of the morning-drink a beloved said to her lover by way of trial, “O such-and-such son of such-and-such,2020
گفت معشوقی به عاشق ز امتحان ** در صبوحی کای فلان ابن الفلان
I wonder, do you love me or yourself more? Tell the truth, O man of sorrows.”
مر مرا تو دوست‌تر داری عجب ** یا که خود را راست گو یا ذا الکرب
He replied, “I have become so naughted in thee that I am full of thee from head to foot.
گفت من در تو چنان فانی شدم ** که پرم از تتو ز ساران تا قدم
Of my existence there is nothing (left) in me but the name: in my being there is naught but thee, O thou whose wishes are gratified.
بر من از هستی من جز نام نیست ** در وجودم جز تو ای خوش‌کام نیست
By that means I have become thus naughted, like vinegar, in thee (who art) an ocean of honey.”
زان سبب فانی شدم من این چنین ** هم‌چو سرکه در تو بحر انگبین
As the stone that is entirely turned into pure ruby: it is filled with the qualities of the sun.2025
هم‌چو سنگی کو شود کل لعل ناب ** پر شود او از صفات آفتاب
That stony nature does not remain in it: back and front, it is filled with sunniness.
وصف آن سنگی نماند اندرو ** پر شود از وصف خور او پشت و رو
Afterwards, if it love itself, that (self-love) is love of the sun, O youth;
بعد از آن گر دوست دارد خویش را ** دوستی خور بود آن ای فتا
And if it love the sun with (all) its soul, ’tis undoubtedly love of itself.
ور که خود را دوست دارد ای بجان ** دوستی خویش باشد بی‌گمان
Whether the pure ruby loves itself or whether it loves the sun,
خواه خود را دوست دارد لعل ناب ** خواه تا او دوست دارد آفتاب
There is really no difference in these two loves: both sides (aspects) are naught but the radiance of the sunrise.2030
اندرین دو دوستی خود فرق نیست ** هر دو جانب جز ضیای شرق نیست
Until it (the stone) has become a ruby, it is an enemy to itself, because it is not a single “I”: two “I's” are there;
تا نشد او لعل خود را دشمنست ** زانک یک من نیست آنجا دو منست
For the stone is dark and blind to the day (-light): the dark is essentially opposed to light.
زانک ظلمانیست سنگ و روزکور ** هست ظلمانی حقیقت ضد نور
(If) it love itself, it is an infidel, because it offers intense resistance to the supreme Sun.
خویشتن را دوست دارد کافرست ** زانک او مناع شمس اکبرست
Therefore ’tis not fitting that the stone should say “I,” (for) it is wholly darkness and in (the state of) death.
پس نشاید که بگوید سنگ انا ** او همه تاریکیست و در فنا
A Pharaoh said “I am God” and was laid low; a Mansúr (Halláj) said “I am God” and was saved.2035
گفت فرعونی انا الحق گشت پست ** گفت منصوری اناالحق و برست
The former “I” is followed by God's curse and the latter “I” by God's mercy, O loving man;
آن انا را لعنة الله در عقب ** وین انا را رحمةالله ای محب
For that one (Pharaoh) was a black stone, this one (Halláj) a cornelian; that one was an enemy to the Light, and this one passionately enamoured (of it).
زانک او سنگ سیه بد این عقیق ** آن عدوی نور بود و این عشیق
This “I,” O presumptuous meddler, was “He” (God) in the inmost consciousness, through oneness with the Light, not through (belief in) the doctrine of incarnation.
این انا هو بود در سر ای فضول ** ز اتحاد نور نه از رای حلول
Strive that thy stony nature may be diminished, so that thy stone may become resplendent with the qualities of the ruby.
جهد کن تا سنگیت کمتر شود ** تا به لعلی سنگ تو انور شود
Show fortitude in (enduring) self-mortification and affliction; continually behold everlasting life in dying to self.2040
صبر کن اندر جهاد و در عنا ** دم به دم می‌بین بقا اندر فنا
(Then) thy stoniness will become less at every moment, the nature of the ruby will be strengthened in thee.
وصف سنگی هر زمان کم می‌شود ** وصف لعلی در تو محکم می‌شود
The qualities of (self-)existence will depart from thy body, the qualities of intoxication (ecstasy) will increase in thy head (thy spiritual centre).
وصف هستی می‌رود از پیکرت ** وصف مستی می‌فزاید در سرت
Become entirely hearing, like an ear, in order that thou mayst gain an ear-ring of ruby.
سمع شو یکبارگی تو گوشوار ** تا ز حلقه‌ی لعل یابی گوشوار
If thou art a man, dig earth, like a well-digger, from this earthen body, that thou mayst reach some water;
هم‌چو چه کن خاک می‌کن گر کسی ** زین تن خاکی که در آبی رسی
(And) if the pull (inspiration) of God come (to thee), the running water will bubble up from the earth without thy well having been dug.2045
گر رسد جذبه‌ی خدا آب معین ** چاه ناکنده بجوشد از زمین
Be always working, do not pay heed to that (hope of being enabled to dispense with work): keep scraping away the earth of the (bodily) well little by little.
کار می‌کن تو بگوش آن مباش ** اندک اندک خاک چه را می‌تراش
To every one who suffers a tribulation there is revealed a treasure: every one who makes an earnest endeavour comes into a fortune.
هر که رنجی دید گنجی شد پدید ** هر که جدی کرد در جدی رسید
The Prophet hath said that acts of genuflexion and prostration (in the ritual prayer) are (equivalent to) knocking the door-ring of (mystical) attainment on the Divine Portal.
گفت پیغمبر رکوعست و سجود ** بر در حق کوفتن حلقه‌ی وجود