هذه أثوابهم والحللُ

هذه أثوابهم والحللُ

ليت شعري أين قومي نزلوا

ليت شعري أين قومي نزلوا

These are their garments and robes.

These are their clothes and robes

Would that I knew where my people have alighted.

I wonder where my people camped

نزلوا بالشعب من كاظمة

نزلوا بالشعب من كاظمة

هي قلبي والحشى والمقل

هي قلبي والحشى والمقل

They alighted in the ravine of Kazimah;

They camped in Kadhima’s valley

It is my heart, my inward parts, and my eyes.

It is my heart, and my inner self, and inclination

فانمحت من ذكرهم آثارنا

فانمحت من ذكرهم آثارنا

وبدا ذاك الغرام الأول

وبدا ذاك الغرام الأول

So our traces were effaced by remembrance of them,

So our traces of them faded away

And that first passion appeared

And that original passion appeared

بربا نجد وقد ذاب الربا

بربا نجد وقد ذاب الربا

وانمحى نجد إذا ما أقبلوا

وانمحى نجد إذا ما أقبلوا

On the hills of Najd, while the hills had melted away;

Perhaps Najd, after the mirage disappeared

And Najd vanished when they approached.

And Najd faded away when they came

ونسيم الروض لولاهم لما

ونسيم الروض لولاهم لما

نقل الأخبار عمن ينقل

نقل الأخبار عمن ينقل

And the garden breeze, were it not for them, would not

And the meadow’s breeze, without them, would not

Have carried tidings of those of whom it tells.

Have conveyed news of those who convey

جيرة جاروا على أشواقنا

جيرة جاروا على أشواقنا

وإذا جاروا فمن ذا يعدل

وإذا جاروا فمن ذا يعدل

Neighbors who wronged our longings;

Neighbors who harmed our passions

And if they are unjust, who then is just?

And if they harmed, who then makes right?

كل شمس إن رأتهم كسفت

كل شمس إن رأتهم كسفت

كل بدر من سناهم يأفل

كل بدر من سناهم يأفل

Every sun, if it sees them, is eclipsed;

Every sun, when it saw them, was eclipsed

Every full moon sets because of their radiance.

Every full moon by their brilliance declines

هذه طلعتهم في كوننا

هذه طلعتهم في كوننا

ما لنا كون ولكن علل

ما لنا كون ولكن علل

This is their appearance within our being;

This was their rising in our existence

We have no being, but only causes.

We have no existence, but only ailments

لبسونا أو لبسناهم فمن

لبسونا أو لبسناهم فمن

هو منا اللابس المشتمل

هو منا اللابس المشتمل

They wore us—or we wore them—then who

Did we dress them or did they dress us? So who

Among us is the wearer, the enrobed one?

Among us is the dressed enveloped one?

حالة يعرفها العارف قد

حالة يعرفها العارف قد

غاب عن إداركها من يعقل

غاب عن إداركها من يعقل

A state the gnostic knows; indeed,

A state the gnostic knows well but

Whoever reasons has failed to comprehend it.

He who reasons cannot grasp

وبها عنها البرايا اشتعلت

وبها عنها البرايا اشتعلت

وعجيب فارغ مشتغل

وعجيب فارغ مشتغل

And through it, away from it, creation was set ablaze;

And by it the wilds were set ablaze

And how strange: one idle, yet busy!

And strange is the vacant preoccupied one