1. The sky flirts with the stars,
Did a spark touch it and make it blaze?

2. Like limpets they clung
To the seas, watching.

3. He bid farewell to a ship
And stood to meet another ship.

4. He gave good tidings of the house and
The people of the hidden place of pilgrimage.

5. With light he drew upon
The tablet of darkness, "Welcome!"

6. Like the twinkling bright lightning
That flashes and is gone.

7. O Lord of the night in which
You did not taste sleep or joy.

8. We stay awake, watching over it
As the pilgrims watch the stars.

9. A happiness known
To people if they are fathers.

10. He walked upon the water and came
Like Jesus the miracle worker.

11. He stood in his place
Seeking, searching.

12. He aims into the darkness
Confused, wavering.

13. Like a seer, he turned his
Eyes in the gloom and examined.

14. Like the blind man's vision
He saw in the dark and ascended.

15. Like a lamp in the hand of the wind
He illuminated and disappeared.

16. Like a spark of inspiration
That came and went.

17. Avoiding the world in
His isolation, avoided.

18. Except for a sail gone astray
Or a ship battered by calms.

19. The keeper of oblivion was
A refined man.

20. He loved life and loved
Living, easy and good.

21. Years passed him by
Exiled and estranged.

22. He did not see his wife
Or his beloved son in them.

23. He had watched fate
And understood what fate decreed.

24. So he said, "O keeper of emptiness,
Abandon discontent and complaining.

25. Who will help people when
Each is called but refuses?

26. People are my brothers, not
Adam my father.

27. Look at me, see how I fulfill
What is obligatory for them.

28. I have lived in serving them
And you do not see me weary.

29. How many drowning have I stood
At their heads, healing.

30. Their bodies were still
I stirred them and they shook.

31. I bent my shoulders for them
To climb up and mount.

32. Until they came to shore, delighted
And welcoming what they found.

33. They chased me away, so I returned
Losing, disappointed.

34. I did not get any silver from them
Nor was I given gold.

35. What a reward! Strange
Was the reward!

36. They threw a net over me
And chopped me to pieces.

37. The craftsmen took from
My fat good lamp oil.

38. And their aid to me
Kept taking away my life.

39. And my good-natured deeds
Remained beloved.

40. If I heard a scream
I would dash to it, thrilled.

41. I do not find one who helps
Except an honored angel.

42. And the helpers, tomorrow,
Will join a procession.

43. Paradise will say to them,
"Come, enter the welcome!"

44. "Your sins,
God has forgiven whatever you did."