1. If you had sent in the breeze's gentle stir
A tender greeting to my serene heart,

2. We would have met it with acceptance,
And been healed, even were it poison.

3. And if the messenger had brought a single ember
To a lover among you in hellfire,

4. I would have said, on his return, "O fire, be cool
And safe for Abraham's sake."

5. A hoopoe guided my strength when there did not come
To the servant from a generous Scripture.

6. It came hastening with every firm covenant,
Came from its words with a well-ordered full moon,

7. With meanings of solidity like marble
And words of softness like the breeze.

8. So I took good omens from it, and its meanings were
Pollination for every barren thought.

9. My master - but no! I heard talk of you
That in my mind resembles wounds.

10. For my patron has falsely supposed ignorance
After the fall of twigs in the valley of el-Sarim.

11. And they reported of him that that was a lasting marriage
Demanding binding conditions.

12. Then it was said he was guided - would that he had
Remained in that ancient error!

13. So I sighed in sorrow and sought refuge
From evil with the All-hearing, All-knowing,

14. Lord of right guidance surnamed as error,
And misery surnamed as bliss.