1. I saw him in the garb of melancholy, a kindred spirit,
Yet he ignored me, obliterating all trace of his nature,

2. And haughtily cut me off with the flash of his raiment,
Though that was but a sign of his disconnection.

3. Strange is his ignorance! He thought
The height of glory was the trim of his coat of mail,

4. Had he but a little taste and an ear to hear
He might have murmured some of my words in his hearing;

5. But fortune never distinguished for him therein
Between harm and benefit in their meaning;

6. Yet I am a man whose heart in the holy presence
Is split, and the sublimely lofty is drenched by his tears,

7. He has an oceanic heart, a Hashimite carpenter shaped it,
The oceans of existence flow from the source of its spring,

8. A leader for the folk of hearts, greatest among them,
In his party the Shaykh of all and their multitude,

9. He rose loftily in station through the amplitude of the Most High,
Highest of God's folk, he rose by his ascendance,

10. Upon him the Chosen One shed his light when
He let shine for him the gleam from his tower,

11. Daybreak was revealed in the tower of his heart’s humanity
So he turned from the foolish and their flambeaux;

12. And his Master, the Desired One, gave him that which was above him
So he inclined from the poor gift and its withholding,

13. And his spring bloomed on every side,
The fountains of wonders overflowed through his turf,

14. Just as all the high virtues connected to his origin—
Those meanings attached themselves to his branch—

15. The proof of induction flowed in rhythmic beat,
The authority of revelation pleaded through his intercession—

16. By his deep draft of the living wine such anguish
Established itself over the goblets, erect by his draught,

17. Long rooted in yearning love—the bending of the boughs intoxicated him—
So he tasted the milk of intimacy from the spring of its udder,

18. The clay of which he was constituted set him among the ranks of lovers—
Behold, each part conforms to the state of its kind—

19. So frequent the sanctuary of this lover, stand by his door,
Implore the thresholds by your knocking,

20. And leave the envious one whose life strayed into error,
From whom misfortune flows in ceaseless torrent;

21. When a patch gave the rent a patch
Do not busy yourself before all with its mending;

22. Many a wounded man unaware was struck by the arrow
Overpowered by its light blow against him;

23. And in the furious fray—oh how many a horseman
Would be assassinated, did he but know the shock of his fall;

24. And how often the poisonously bitten one thought it sweet,
So in his ignorance it was pleasant to burn from its sting!

25. Turn away from all but God the Generous, trust in Him,
Confide in Him, rely on the effectiveness of His hearing,