1. When passion called me from the land of Khlal
I turned my hopes towards it, leaving all else behind

2. And I set out to reach it by the clearest paths
Until, when the camel leaders drew near

3. A fire appeared to the right of the mountain
My companions thought it was a decoy fire

4. So they hesitated while I made for the fire alone
Convinced by its location that I was rightly guided

5. And as I drew near I heard a voice
From my side, from behind me and in front of me

6. So most of my companions stopped short of the sanctuary
Rejecting the obvious signs the outriders had recognized

7. Veiling themselves with passion and going astray
From the path, not knowing whom they had failed

8. They made up for the frustration of failure with locks
Finding themselves where every stay was temporary

9. A place of humiliation, pain, and confusion
Because they had deviated from the course of its justice

10. Having gone astray, failing to arrive under its shadows
They sought union but lost touch with its gates

11. Denying what they had seen and heard
So they were separated after being united

12. And they returned home falsely accusing it
Misleading travelers from its path with their tricks

13. So avoid them and pursue in your love my path
And seek refuge in my passion from the evil of the deviants

14. Accompany those nourished by the milk of intimate knowledge
And follow its commandments, taking it as your lover

15. Its brilliant morning sun will bear you witness like a child
So you breakfast on an unending day

16. With no night of shadows to darken your home
No servant of it has served his Lord better

17. He favored him with kindness and made him His own
An authority from which He was not remote

18. My spirit floated happily to it after it had floated to me
And it lifted care from my heart the next morning when it floated

19. Raising me from the dust of the earth to the highest heaven
Revealing me to myself when it revealed itself

20. And through its gifts I secured myself from alarm and fear
In the flash of its smile, when it lit the way

21. While for those who deviated from the path all was dark and confusion
Bewildered by its call, their blindness grew

22. Spurning it, deluded by passionate desire
They turned to its enemies with lies and fraud

23. Saying, for love of it I overspent
Ignorant of Him who surpasses all poetic depictions

24. If they but saw a little of what it grants me uniquely
Seeing naught but its complete devotion to me

25. It was through being patient amidst hardships that I exposed the slanderers’ injustice
Though it may hide its gaze from me in seclusion

26. My heart remains its martyr, witnessing for it
No coolness quenches my burning thirst for it

27. My heart turns not from it however much it turns
A laughingstock to onlookers among the faded remnants of camps

28. My love is an old tale in loving it
My night companion in its absence

29. Never forgetting our days of companionship
Comforting my eyes in desolation by showing itself to them

30. Would that wakefully it might surprise me with hope
None have shared with me watching o’er it save my vigil

31. None have blocked it from my sight save my reflections
And the absent one I love with news of it

32. Is present to my inner eye, awaiting my restoration from sickness
Leave off arguing, shun wickedness and vanity

33. When you draw near; cleanse yourself of impurities
Refuse to be tempted by any deviant to mischief

34. Return to earnestness, leave foolery behind
And you will attain sound union and connection without separation

35. None truly know my way of loving but those
To whom its Lord has shown it clearly in the wilderness

36. Not broadcasting it to one likely to distort it
And cast it down from its vantage point to a lower place

37. They rushed excitedly to it, but when they rose up, they fell
Hardened in their claim to truth and justice

38. And when they deviated from its course, they erred
Finding themselves confined after knowing breadth and ease

39. So keep your distance from them and follow in your love my path
Seeking refuge in my passion from the evil of those deviants

40. Accompany those nourished by the milk of intimate knowledge
Taking their advice in love to be your code