1. Rouse thy steed worn with travel, rider,
That thou mayest revive the dead-alive,

2. And hail peace on my dear native land's folk,
Whence I am debarred; I hail those far.

3. If thou know not my square direct thy course
To a fire whose blaze is the hill-tops' light.

4. If thou know not the breadth of this my stead,
The spreading lines of abandoned hearths will guide.

5. Water thy beasts at those farms, nor say
"The morn-breeze blows fresh from the hills."

6. Nay, my tears have watered the abodes of my loved ones,
My tears suffice when rains fail.

7. A marvel that a heart roamed among their dwellings,
As though it were the cup of the noble seer!

8. So that my heart turned as yellow as saffron -- nay, as the bleach of constant tears.
O Dwellers in the Jordan's valley, have mercy on him

9. Who forgot not a day the Sandy Hollow's denizens.
I have 'midst you all a secreted tear that sleepeth,

10. Which the hand of misery awakens time and tide.
His sighs have kindled the burned-out hearths,

11. Wherefore the passionate love their ruins.
He sighed till his youth like morn drave towards westering

12. And his ripening was mingled with his ripening sighs.
Lo! the fire which burnt in Babel town

13. Was kindled from the glow of his hot sighs.
Had not my tears harmonized on your land

14. I had died of anguish, of misery.
O heart, why wert thou not cloven amid their ships

15. A sea cleft by my misery and tears!
Nay I forsook thee for one to whom passion

16. Exposes thee to all pit-falls of desire.
Towards my dear native land and sweet companions,

17. In it were knit the twisted strands of my affection!
Farewell to the homesteads of my beloved!

18. With a lustrous incandescent farewell!
Waft, morning-breeze, from me the softest airs,

19. If thou of them approves my dwelling there.
Towards the pure maid, the ensample to mankind,

20. She graced with the scintillating brilliant star.
Then spread thy wings over what I confided to thee,

21. From a love-distracted woeful doleful wight,
And say "Peace be with thee!" to the one for whom

22. My soul yearns westwards, to the place of eve.
Could I display my misery she would see --

23. But no vainglory enters into my intent.
Hearken to the voice of his moaning to recognize

24. What he is suffering from, by his voice's tone.
This is the voice whose rapt invocation

25. Is addressed to Mary the pure maid.
Thou Daughter of princes, nay of the

26. Princes, nay of princes!
Since I scented the fragrance of thy light relishing it,

27. The like marvelled to see its peer in lightsomeness.
By God, thy dawns were not occult to me

28. Since paired with the soft dark night.
When their suns dawned upon Thy creatures' sight

29. The densest shadows vanished 'neath Thy white hand.
And saw the abundant outpouring of Thy bounty foaming,

30. So friends near and far gladly bent the knee.
And the pilgrims thronged Thee that they might fill

31. From Thy free generous outpouring.
Many a fountain have the down-and-outs deserted

32. To drink at Thy full bounteous sea.
I'd give my life to save Thee, Thou moon who didst rise

33. Aloof from any lowly sphere's eclipse or waning ray.
The lesser moons orbit Thy majesty, though they rise high,

34. And the horizon bows low to the place of Thy dawning.
All beauties are found in Thee, gathered completely,

35. Wherefore my love of Thee mingles with my life-blood.
If Thou'rt the sun, then mortals are Thy planets;

36. Or if Thou'rt the full moon, then they are the Pleiades.
Than whom none is more needful of Thy loftiness,

37. Since by Thy favour he's drawn near, albeit stained with sins.
If Thou dost transcend pinnacles in every way,

38. Then my love encompasses all parts.
So contradiction cannot exist between us,

39. As this reasoning proves, and messages make clear.
My passion is before me as though 'twere my deeds,

40. And fortune follows after as my actions trail.
While patience bows down its neck because it is now

41. Annexed to the place of my protectress.
So it's as though I'm a noun governed by "It is prescribed,"

42. An imperative, at the time of the Arabs' night-march.
If asked "Whom lovest thou?" I'd say, answering:

43. "Her whose bliss to misery is guide."
O thou who blamest me, show justice! Thou'rt just;

44. And justice requires that love should lead me on.
Where is the austere compared to the amiable?

45. Nay, leave me, O critic of me and my misery!
Why show qualities that tempt me,

46. Capricious as the dappled snake's markings?
Strange is my love for Mary -- marvel ye

47. At loving the brunette and the blonde!
Canst dupe me? But that would be my misfortune!

48. Hast not heard the tale of the grinning wolf?
Hush, timorous critic, no bark makes shipwreck,

49. My tongue divulges my secret passion.
All creation proclaims my love,

50. Remembrance and contemplation being my witnesses;
While I hid my mystery from thee, deceiving thee,

51. That I might hide the light in darkness,
And thou abide obscured in the blind darkness,

52. While the light of guidance illumines my pillars;
Until, pitying thy grief, I manifested my secret

53. And openly proclaimed my guiding pillars;
And the eloquence of the aged shone upon me, singing:

54. "Thou hast realized the troth of my love and fealty;"
And I came to cry amongst my tribesfolk's throngs

55. With the noblest names and appellations.
Mary the Maid, have mercy on me!

56. My passion is before me, and destiny behind!
Mary the Maid, comfort me with a glance,

57. That I may see Thee, in the hour of my death!
Mary the Maid, bless me with a boon,

58. In my dwelling, though in time of stress and misery!
Thou essence of glory, seen by Daniel

59. In a night-vision's dream,
Thou ladder which Jacob found, youthful prophet,

60. In Beit-El, though far from the settlements,
Thou tabernacle of the covenant wherein Moses The Speaker

61. Enclosed his errant people,
Thou bush which did not burn though fire blazed within

62. When God appeared on Sinai's summit,
Thou ship of Noah who voyaged in its hold

63. Folk straying in the deluge of the sea,
Thou harp of David who hymned Thee

64. When graced with the sweetest melody,
Ezekiel witnessed Thee as a gate fast-barred

65. Which the God entered without hurt,
Daniel imagined Thee as a lofty mountain

66. Whereupon the Almighty descended with tidings;
Isaiah saw Thee as an outspread cloud

67. Shading folk with fine rain,
Thou manna, Thou rod of Aaron, nay,

68. Thou cake simmering 'mid the cooking-stones,
Thou temple built by Solomon, Thou star

69. Appearing in the blackest night,
Thou pillar of morn guiding a nation

70. Led astray by temptation's misleading!
Why enumerate Thy beauties? I'm overwhelmed!

71. For the pride is in knowing one's limits.
In Thee have I planted saplings to bear for me

72. The fruits of salvation; be not lacking in my fealty!
Noblest wishes of the soul are Thine, in what she perceived

73. Of her succeeding, and in Thee is my succeeding!
By Thy love I have scaled the steps of glory,

74. And by hope in Thee escaped the hold of woe.
Leave the slanderer rejected from Thee,

75. Casting him down; such is the wont of the censurers!
Grant my wish, O Maid, that I prevail

76. In what I love, despite the critic's spleen.
By God! Were Thy attributes to present themselves to my mind

77. I would bow down revering them in all fealty.
And when I thought to behold Thee with a glance's clearness

78. I returned with a thankful glance instead.
If the eye's tears beset me insistently

79. Their clarion is by the streaming verses.
Before Thy mention I hesitate in awe,

80. I revere, mentioning Thy name and praising Thee.
My meditation on Thy praise is the jeweller of my verse,

81. And my speech articulates it with the fire of my mind,
That mine ear may delight in my utterance,

82. And that my being may incline to the sweetest aroma;
When I call Thee to mind, fear holds me back,

83. And my recollection is Thy name and praise of Thee.
My thought is the fashioner of eulogies to Thee

84. And speech pours them forth with my mind's fire,
So mine ear delights in my words

85. And my being savours their exquisite scent.