1. Love's secret is unveiled, though love sought to hide
What heart concealed, eyes declared twixt you and I

2. Love feigns its illness, that by guile untied
It may attain the love for which it sighs

3. Passion subdues my heart; it will not be denied
Though love from it keeps aloof, or draws anigh

4. I clasp her hands, and revel in her lips
And cleave to her embraces, and mine eyes drink deep

5. I pass the night complaining of her pride
If from her face the veil a moment I do strip

6. Her charms I never weary to applaud
Though we refrain, or tales of her abroad do keep

7. We pass her street as though we noticed not
And march as warriors stung with insult sore

8. In robe of honour green we're proudly clad
And by her door halt hopefully once more

9. When her I saw, my wits took sudden flight
So awed that those who spoke fell trembling in affright

10. Towards her we marched with delicate steps sedate
Our eyes still fixed upon her lovely shape

11. And when we circled the famed shrine, and kissed the stone
We prayed the Glorious God, Lord of the Throne

12. Seven times each shrine we compassed in our prayer
Kissing the Black in worship awed and bare

13. Until our courses round the shrine were done
We drank Zamzam before we bathed, each one

14. When we had poured the water on our gear
Towards Safa we set out to begin our career

15. When we had run between Safa and Marwah's mound
And fulfilled the rites and paid each due profound

16. We left to join the congregation on the plain
And there till dawn our matins did maintain

17. Then we marched on between Mash'ar and Mina's vale
And stood on Arafat where our prayers avail

18. Till sunset faded on the mountain height
We stood in praise, for God was there in might

19. Until the sun had set behind the hill
We hastened downwards eager to fulfil

20. The rite, and at full speed we hastened on
To pelt the pillars we had sworn upon

21. At the Most High, Most Holy Place we prayed
Our dawn prayers, as the sun brightened the glade

22. Once more we marched to Mina's vale anew
And our desires at Mina we did do

23. We pelted every pillar thrice with care
Then we returned our Pilgrimage to bear

24. And when the Offering Feast we duly kept
The rites of Pilgrimage were all complete

25. We mounted our stout camels swift and fleet
On packsaddles of wood like litters sweet

26. With swaying seam our camels sailed apace
Passing the sandgrouse or the ostrich fleet

27. Breaking the thick of night, gently they raced
Till the first gleam of day their pupils softly traced

28. The cadence of their tread was like the beat
Of drums compelling men to dance and fleet

29. I cheer them on though they had sped right willingly
Till I beheld them sailing like the ships at sea

30. Their flanks the waves, their necks the masts on high
The camel litters sails against the sky

31. No hold I left untried to urge them on
Nor thought of rest until the goal was won

32. They swept across the land and strove amain
Till not a roving sandgrouse could they rein

33. I cried aloud "Spare now their failing strength,
For from the pace they slacken at the length"

34. At dawn we turned their heads towards the tomb
That of our Prophet, seal of worthies, bloom of the earth

35. With prayers and blessings manifold we came
Our rites to end where they began, from whence we came

36. Blessings and peace to him while life shall last
From us perpetually while breath shall hold

37. Prophet of God, His name aforetime placed
With His whenever Allah's name is traced

38. The Torah of Moses proves his worth
The Gospel of Jesus sings his praise on earth

39. The Qur'an's chapters clearly certify
His noble deeds and ways to glorify

40. But for him the Heavens were not created
Nor Hell, nor yet the World elaborated

41. By his birth the Persian palaces fell down
Khusroes perishèd and Caesar wore a frown

42. In Ghar Hira and Mecca's vale he dwelt
And in the crevice of Mount Hira knelt

43. The spider wove for him her tent on high
The doves came thronging to him from the sky

44. The Moon in Sana'a did for love divide
That he two Moons at once might see side by side

45. His was the miracle that burst in two
The disk of the resplendent Moon right through

46. The signs he gave in the House of Halima
So that a suckling babe words could pronounce sublime

47. The Holy Spirit always hovered o'er
And only on his lips would alight and pour

48. The cloud o'ershadowed him with cooling shade
Though in the mid-day glare fierce rays it stayed

49. Glorious the heavenly rapture that conveyed
His spirit in one night from earth to heaven's stead

50. So did he rise a guiding star serene
An utter rout the strength of Satan he made

51. Not till the worship of vain gods had waned
And idols fallen, shattered and profaned

52. Upon his noble spirit they attended
All friends and kinsmen kind affection rendered

53. Through love of God's Apostle we implore
His intercession on the Judgment Day of awe

54. You, O Apostle, hear my words this day
Accept the homage that these poor lips pay

55. Next to the Lord you hold my love and heart
Though in your land and home from you apart

56. When pilgrims tell that at your shrine they've been
Our souls with envy and desire are keen

57. Though I praise ill, accept it for the good
The intention makes amends for faulty mood

58. What power have I in praise to you addressed
When God Himself has you already blest?

59. If Lukman the Sage or Noah of yore
Or every soul that treads the earth in awe,

60. Had ceased not hymns unto your praise to chant
Nay, nor ten times ten hundred bards their lives had spent,

61. One ten-thousandth of your mighty fame to recount,
They would not e'en the hem of your perfection mount