1. A wondrous secret it holds a wondrous meaning
And a strange revelation, holding stranger sights

2. John's vision, and John the beloved is its guardian
Blessed the eye that awaits such marvels

3. It encompasses a mystery too vast to contain
Were the chests of angels to explain it at length

4. The Spirit, the Holy Spirit, came with its bounty
And its messenger dictates it to him to transcribe

5. With events unfolding towards their conclusions
Its eloquent words clothe an Arabic text

6. Folded in its corners, winding its folds
Towards what will occur, anxiously awaited

7. With the sound of a fountain and breaking seals
Along with a blow that brought forth overflowing cups

8. The steeds of fate flow from it, some white
Some red, some black, some pale

9. I was confounded by the traces I witnessed
In lines whose contents were most perplexing

10. From Babylon of the two lands, nay from the Lord of the Two Poles
Nay from two learned men of different schools

11. An eclipse of a sun with the moon's darkening, and the
Orbiting spheres fold in, and planets set

12. The earths tremble in their horizons
And mountains shake and overturn

13. And that sea returns a sea of blood
Its islands sinking and dispersing

14. You see all existence has reached its ending
And the system of this world lies in ruins

15. A Lamb came down from atop the Throne, surrounded
By elders, riding above the angels

16. And says to the virgins, the pious, the martyrs
And the reverent people, "Rise, follow the victorious Lamb

17. And ascend above the lofty peak so you may overcome
The Antichrist who deceives, his gods deceiving those who drink"

18. These are symbols whose essence I know not
When I ask their interpreters, they flee

19. Their commands came by God's command and the
Lamb sacrificed, so where can refuge be found?

20. Who can reveal its symbols and treasures for me?
How I wearied my mind with that and grew tired

21. How some flashed insights revealing them
But that light was a deceptive glimmer

22. No good is a mind that seemed reasonable
While the heart in the meaning of the tale was tossed about

23. Their mysteries were not illumined by their minds
Except that they set in the east and sank in the west

24. I continued to ponder its taverns stooped over
Sipping from the wine of questions and drinking deep

25. If I obtained an intricate thread from it at dawn
At evening it would meet me as intertwined confusion

26. And I strain my ears toward the voice of its calling messenger
Cast down my hearing as he admonishes me

27. I'm as if awake in a sleeper's body
And the tongue of my thoughts addresses my heart

28. I'm as if an infant in a cradle asleep
Growing sleepier still from prattle and comfort

29. Until when I awake seeking the breast for suckling
Even if weaned, still wanting to play

30. So I became unable to comply with the cup of purpose
As if in what I see, I am pouring from a waterskin

31. As if I am Al-Khansa mourning her brother Sakhr
This learning, so where is one who is trained?

32. This is its definitive argument, so where is one guided
By it, and where is the refined scholar?

33. Until God made its teacher available to me
And I seek out the likes of him

34. So I unpacked it, read it, and understood it
And found it to be unavoidable

35. With the interpreter of dreams Joseph of his time
In his Egypt, it came in that which sets

36. The verses vary in their purposes
As persons vary in their inclinations

37. For every symbol there is an era concerned with it
And for every era, a Joseph invested

38. Pharaoh in the vision emerged like John
And its Joseph the Second interprets

39. Do not be surprised at a crowded watering place
If its well is sweet and the drinking place blessed

40. In the name of Joseph was the revealing of its symbols
Minds grown old were baffled by its meaning

41. O you who praise the vestiges of a people, if they came
Will you be like the fox praised the road?

42. The moon amazes in darkness, but if the
Sun of day appears, it is no longer amazing

43. These are the keys, to which belong
Whoever desires them each day

44. The one who enlightened the age with his merit
And his knowledge, and the hoary epoch grew young

45. Since there is no stranger in the world detached
After Joseph, and the distant is brought near

46. But the revelation of God is an obscure mystery
He gives it to whom He gives it, cultured

47. A wisdom appeared like a pillar of dawn, so ignorance was illuminated
And the unknown of the land was rent open