1. What ails this night that its edges are obscured
By lingering dusk, its fringes wrapped in gloom?!

2. And what is that fearsome shadow on the horizon
That looms and then retreats, its stars terrified?!

3. O Earth, behold! Listen!
Evil has sprung up within you, its claws red.

4. I see a red sedition spewed up by the soil,
Its clouds veil all creatures.

5. And I smell the hot breath of its eruption
As if the summer's heat were blowing through its bushes.

6. I see the hand of Satan unsheathing a dagger,
Eager for bloodshed, its blades bare.

7. It crept seeking to kill “Mohammed” -
But the aggressor failed, and his schemes came to naught.

8. Step forward, spawn of fire! The door is not locked!
What did it protect him from? What did it ward off?

9. Look! Do you see anything but a lad in his bed
While into the dark shine the spangles of his gown?

10. Your followers will ask you, their eyes wandering,
And you are confused, your wits scattered:

11. “Did we sleep or did some magic charm
Bewitch us with its strange spells?!”

12. Yet each knight still grips fast his sword
That has not lost its sharp cutting edge.

13. How did you not see your enemy passing
And which way did he go? Which way did his riders disappear?

14. Advance and feel your way softly in the house. What do you see?
The Prophet and his friend have left the house!

15. They spur their two camels in the wasteland
Toward a mountain that shelters the truth in its sides.

16. Stop and peer about, confused by the mouth of his cave that challenges you -
Its leaves and spiders scorn you!

17. So you may know that truth is spirit and idea
To which the tyrant is subjected and his steeds grow weary.

18. So begone, Satan! Set yourself on fire or vanish as smoke, and lose what you sought to gain!
You have failed! Had not his Lord protected him

19. A night would have descended whose darkness knows no end.