1. You descended to me from the highest abode
A chaste one, fortified and aloof

2. Veiled from every knowing eye
Though she traveled unveiled and unconfined

3. You came reluctantly and perhaps
Hated to part, oh anguished one

4. You refused yet did not forget, so when you arrived
You became accustomed to the ruined, desolate dwellings

5. I believe you forgot pledges of devotion
And homes you were unsatisfied to leave

6. Until connecting with the splendor of your descent
In the letter meem, your centerpoint, the most craggy

7. You affixed the heavy thaa, becoming
Among the landmarks and bent palm trees

8. Weeping when you recalled your time in the Hijaz
With tears flowing unchecked

9. Remaining silent about the favors
Worn away by the blowing winds

10. When abundant polytheism banished you
And cages prevented your boundless, open expanse

11. Until nearing the journey's end to the Hijaz
And approaching departure into the vaster space

12. Enduring separation from all left behind
With only the earth as your unattended mourner

13. You were poetsing after rending veils, beholding
What cannot be grasped by sleepy eyes

14. And began trilling atop a towering summit
With the banner raised high above those not raised high

15. Why then were you brought down from the lofty
Sublime to the lowest, filthiest depths?

16. If the Divine sent you for wisdom
Concealed from the most astute, brilliant mind

17. Your descent, if a blow to enemies
Was to hear what you never heard

18. And know the unseen in both worlds, her being rent not mended
She who time itself halted in her tracks

19. That she set like a star over the Hijaz
Then folded up as if she'd never shone

20. Bestow a cool answer to my probing
About that whose flame of knowledge blazes