چه دانستم که این سودا مرا زین سان کند مجنون
دلم را دوزخی سازد دو چشمم را کند جیحون
How could I know that this longing would drive me so crazy;
That it would make my heart a prison, and my eyes a river?
How know tears like a flash flood would carry me away,
And hurl me like a boat into a vast sea of blood?
That waves would beat and split this boat board by board,
Until each board twists away from all the many tortures?
That the sea-monster would raise its head- and swallow the sea;
That such an immense sea would go dry like a desert plain?
That the devouring sea-monster would then split this plain,
And suddenly pull me down into a pit, like Qarun, in wrath?
When these transformations occurred, naught remained;
What do I know, when why and what swallow each other?
O how many the “I don’t knows” there are- but I don’t know;
For I have swallowed the foam of opium, to forget that sea!
