1. When I saw the night encamp its steeds
And the sweet-scented breeze hastened to it,

2. Covering the bare mountain-tops with its cold rain
Like hands of hail coming from the cloud,

3. I raised for the march of night two fires
With two rays meeting below a star,

4. Then he of the dusty gray horse approached whom no hands could repel
From executing the unavoidable decrees of Fate,

5. So I said to the smoky fire, and it replied to me,
“Is a fire known without smoke?”

6. I began to coax it towards a live coal
Which has lightning flashes for the guest but no fickleness,

7. Whenever it felt hungry I fed it a morsel
Of a bird’s chick or a lamb of the flock,

8. So it went on eating and drinking continually
Till it was sated and sought to be left alone,

9. Then I wrapped it up and it stretched out over its bed,
Its cheeks glowing with embers that seemed to slumber,

10. And the beloved of the night still watched over it,
Comforting it with greetings and soft murmurs,

11. The birds of the thicket sang to it when it woke
With lute, zither, and flute of reed,

12. And the smoke of the moist kindling rose above it
As the winds once bore the litter of ‘Uthman.

13. Till the severance of soul from body was revealed to it
And it yearned after the next world with yearning of departing,

14. So I followed it to the end of its lowly fortune,
And it followed me with memories in every place.