1. The gentle breeze carries fragrant aromas,
Healing the turmoil in my restless heart.

2. It brings tidings of my beloved friends,
Though I've grown silent, still longing for them.

3. Drink to the memory of the beloved, and pour me
A draft to illuminate the engulfing darkness.

4. From that sacred chalice of mystery
Entrusted to the hand of al-Hallaj.

5. It showed all things as one,
So he began conversing with his soul.

6. And ibn Adham glimpsed an instant of its light,
Gleaming amid ruins and ravines.

7. So his creed became the wool of purity,
His cloak embroidered with gold brocade.

8. Beside their monastery they held up a torch,
So I turned toward its flaring blaze.

9. I searched for a wine that still
Offers hope and healing for the seeker.

10. When I learned its time and place,
I walked by night with hidden purpose.

11. I came to the monastery's sheikh in his shrine,
Laying bare my poverty, voicing my need.

12. I called to him, sighing, as night
Was drawing in its edges.

13. None but You, so do not deny my quest.
No servant's hope in You has gone unmet.

14. From a distant land my steps stretched out
After much stumbling and distress.

15. Whatever I sacrificed, Your love remained my shelter,
And when sick, in Your hand was my cure.

16. I extended the palm of poverty to ask,
O Splendor of the wealthy, Disgrace of the destitute!

17. He saw my need and generously opened his hand
To shower me with cascading gifts.

18. He lodged me in a cloister on a hillside
Where stars rain down into the towers.

19. The wine wafted over me in its cups
And I drank it pure, without mixing.

20. Unknowable to the mind, yet
Its ease reveals the pleasure it brings.

21. You see its flasks though they contain no wine,
And see the wine though there are no flasks.

22. He held it out to me saying, "This
Is where you'll find the Vintner's bounty."

23. "Drink, and cry out my name openly, fear no
Persecution or shame in the monastery."

24. "My friend, I see no friend but You
To whom I give my love and confide my secrets."

25. "Turn to the ruins of existence and convey
Greetings from me in the days of tribulation."

26. "God's brethren of purity, for they
Have walked the clear, guided path."

27. "Not those hopelessly lost, covered in the dust
Of upheaval, their gowns rent and frayed."

28. "They stood at the doors of certainty and opened
What had before been closed and sealed."

29. "Until the marks of their way were nearly
Hidden by every deceiver and fraud."

30. "It called: Come renew your pact of contentment
In the days of our master, Abu al-Hajjaj."

31. "So they turned to the caller of the station as though
The cavalry of pilgrims had come."

32. "God revived the customs of their path
And protected them in His sanctuary."

33. "A King who rouses the righteous and follows
Their light, taking their lamps as his guide,"

34. "Continuing the vigils of the night, prostrating
Himself to God in contemplation and intimate discourse."

35. "He revived the forms of knowledge after their extinction,
And restored the face of Truth, radiant and joyful."

36. "The times advanced by his sword and his whip
Becoming a day of dew and a day of tumult."

37. "None more deserving of the Caliphate than the Victorious One
Raised up by the companion of the night journey."

38. "Not one virtue adorned his praise,
Though it gleamed with gems and jewels."

39. "Take these verses, Commander of the Faithful,
Their passion surges against the passions."

40. "I am Johar, artful in words, no wonder
That I string them together in this crown."

41. "I perpetuated through fine words eulogies to you
In the mouth of the reciter and the heart of the hopeful."

42. "Endure, and God's victory—Glorious is He—
Will come to you in waves, upon waves."