Who Is at the Door?

آن یکی آمد در یاری بزد

A man came and knocked at a friend’s door.

گفت یارش کیستی ای معتمد

His friend said, ‘Who are you, trusted one?’

گفت من، گفتش برو هنگام نیست

He said, ‘It is I.’ The friend said, ‘Go, it is not time;

بر چنین خوانی مقام خام نیست

at a table like this there is no place for the raw.’

خام را جز آتش هجر و فراق

What but the fire of absence and separation

کی پزد کی وا رهاند از نفاق

will cook the raw one and free him from hypocrisy?

رفت آن مسکین و سالی در سفر

The poor man went away, and for a year, travelling,

در فراق دوست سوزید از شرر

he burned in the sparks of separation from his friend.

پخته گشت آن سوخته پس باز گشت

The burned one was cooked; then he came back

باز گرد خانه همباز گشت

and paced again around his companion’s house.

حلقه زد بر در به صد ترس و ادب

He knocked at the door with a hundred fears and all courtesy,

تا بنجهد بی‌ادب لفظی ز لب

lest a careless word should slip from his lips.

بانگ زد یارش که بر در کیست آن

His friend called out, ‘Who is that at the door?’

گفت بر در هم توی ای دلستان

He said, ‘At the door, too, it is you, heart-stealer.’

گفت اکنون چون منی ای من در آ

He said, ‘Now that you are I, come in, O I:

نیست گنجایی دو من را در سرا

there is no room in the house for two I’s.’