1. O nightingale, what is this stillness?
Where is your singing amidst the trees?

2. Send melodies into this existence,
And fill the world with a song or chat.

3. Bear not worries of war or peace,
And leave the world to its turmoil,

4. In constant strife or quarrel,
Beneath the sea's surface or atop meadows.

5. They will pass as the noble passed,
On a path from which they will not ascend.

6. My soul yearns - do you see good prevailing,
In it God's justice among people?

7. Or does evil prevail and the world returns
To a life without stability?

8. O nightingale, long has been the period
Since we met, when we were in harmony.

9. You were in a world of beauty, deriving
From you poetry's inspiration in good style.

10. Then after you, cataracts covered my eyes,
And sorrow afflicted the heart, unbearable.

11. My body grew emaciated like a stick,
And my head was cloaked in blossoming whiteness.

12. Thus I live, my thoughts in distraction,
Lost between destiny and fate.

13. Chant to me, O bird, a melody
That awakens hopes in the despairing soul.

14. And tell me, did you visit wise people
Whose era we lived in like Magi rulings?

15. Did you see the nest or was it demolished,
And its dwellers now under the debris?

16. Tell me the truth, fear no threats,
And give me the cup, bitter or sweet.

17. The world is but misfortune and joy,
Its taste the same to the resigned.

18. The nightingale began singing a tune,
Not like birds' singing in spring days.

19. It is sorcery in which prose is woven
With eloquent words in wondrous composition.

20. He said, and sadness was etched upon him,
And the tears' traces showed in his eyes:

21. "Listen to me, my martyred Master,
For in the tale is what makes rocks bleed.

22. I lived an age amidst a jungle with no existence
Of love or fruitful plants within it.

23. Its wolf howls when the darkness falls,
So the owl screams like a warner.

24. And the lion's roar in those thickets
Is like raids in the moonlit nights.

25. And when the sun hurls some arrows,
Its crows scatter about.

26. And the screams of monkeys rise up,
As what's inside the earth emerges.

27. A world of no good, a barren land,
Where company was evil and residence wretched.

28. The days passed over the years,
Laden with painful tragedies.

29. One morn, fervor awoke dormant within me,
So I roamed the jungle, chanting.

30. It is glorification, lament, and moan,
And for the heart, prayers of great value.

31. It restores faith in the distracted soul,
And brings back patience to the bored heart."

32. The jungle echoed that chant
In the stillness of dawn, spreading like sorcery.

33. They heard the tune and rose up enraged,
Then said amidst shouts of anger:

34. "Kill this sorcerer, wherever he may be!
Search for him, make him taste torment,

35. Before he bewitches you into being sociable,
He is the sorcerer who brings wonders."

36. So great fear seized me because of them,
And I hid amongst the leaves.

37. And there the evildoers came from afar,
Calling: "O birds of travel!"

38. I took refuge in the air and found comrades—
A troupe of bulbuls, jesters,

39. Nightingales, yearning brought them,
Warblers, buntings and canaries.

40. They flew in flocks at dawn's first light,
Crying out triumphant melodies.

41. Speeding in descent and ascent
In the sun's glow, the moonlight's shine.

42. Heading to the land of the martyred elder,
The knight Al-Hayjah, protected by Umar.

43. Our flocks grew when they saw
Its brook's meadow of Salsabeel,

44. Its paradise trees fruitful,
Its air pure, its valley beautiful.

45. Its birds sing with stirring tunes,
Enchanting listeners after prolonged silence.

46. So we entered the nest one blessed day,
And spent blithe moments within it.

47. While we were atop the flowers,
Misfortune called out ominously.

48. It separated us—I couldn't bid farewell,
Leaving my heart hostage in the nest.

49. I returned to the jungle, if only predators knew
I had returned, they would have raged in their den.

50. But silence, which I can maintain,
Hides me from them, unaware of me.

51. Thus is the world—if it brings a feast,
And if it changes, then raging misfortune.

52. Patience with it is enough, until it yields
The wishes, as life brings lessons."

53. The nightingale fell silent, profoundly,
And I saw tears flowing in his eyes.

54. I said: "Do not despair, for in the sky are
Gleaming lightning bolts and clouds in the north.

55. When they thunder, they will set the enemies ablaze
In those hills."

56. And back to our homelands, God willing, we shall return
If He wills, at a joyous time."

57. He said: "I entrust you to God the Majestic.
Until we meet again, farewell my friend."

58. He glanced right and left,
Searching for the nightingale in my confusion.

59. And there the nightingale was but a figment,
And my imagination a dream in my wakefulness.

60. I found nothing but hills and sands,
In which I roamed, alone in my solitude.

61. Weeping at times like a wailing infant,
Patient at times, enduring pricks of needles.

62. Angry at times at this existence,
Despairing at times, at times hopeful.