أنت قيد الوجود إن غبت غابا

وإذا ما حضرت كنت حجابا

You are existence's restriction: if you vanish, it vanishes.

And whenever you are present, you become a veil.

وكذا الكائنات علواً و سفلاً

هو منهنَّ لابسٌ أثوابا

And likewise all created beings, high and low:

He wears garments made of them.

كل ذا باعتبار نفسك أَمَّا

هو في ذاته فجلَّ مهابا

All this is in relation to yourself; as for

Him in His essence—He is exalted and held in awe.

واحد مطلق عن القيد بل عن

قيد إطلاقه يلوح اقترابا

One, absolute, free of restriction—indeed, even of

the restriction of His absoluteness—He appears, drawing near.

وهو في بيت عزة وجلال

لست تلقى إليه غيرك بابا

And He is in a house of might and majesty;

you find no door to Him but yourself.

قف على بابه به وتأدب

بخشوع وقبل الأعتابا

Stand at His door through Him, and show due courtesy,

with humble reverence, and kiss the thresholds.

كن بلا أنت تكشف الحجب عنه

ويريك الذي أرى الإنجابا

Be without a 'you', and lift the veils from Him;

and He shows you what He showed the elect.

وجهه النور ظاهر بك لكن

عنه أبدى عليك منه نقابا

His face, the light, is manifest through you; yet

He has displayed upon you a veil of Himself that hides Him.

يا نديمي خذ المدامة مني

إنني قد أدرت هذا الشرابا

O my boon companion, take the wine from me;

I have passed this drink around.

وبسطت البساط في دار قومي

وملأت الكؤس والأكوابا

And I spread the carpet in my people's house,

and filled the goblets and the cups.

وكنست الكنائس السود مما

كان فيها حتى البياض أجابا

And I swept the black churches clean of what

was in them, until whiteness answered.

واستحالت إلى الأصول فروع

أحكمتها يد الفناء انقلابا

And branches turned back into roots;

the hand of annihilation perfected their reversal.

فوجودي هو الوجود الحقيقي

والتصاوير فيه كانت خضابا

For my existence is true existence,

and the images within it were dye.

إن علمي علم اليقين بأني

كنت سعدى وزينباً والربابا

Indeed, my knowledge is certain knowledge that I

was Sa'da, Zaynab, and al-Rabab.

كنت ليلى أنا ومجنون ليلى

والمحبين قبل والأحبابا

I myself was Layla and Layla's Majnun,

and the lovers of old, and the beloveds.

وأنا الآن كل ما هو باد

وسأبدو حبائباً وصحابا

And now I am all that is manifest,

and I shall appear as beloved women and companions.

مثل فعل الحرباء يصبغ منها

كل لون به تلوح الإهابا

As with the chameleon, its skin is dyed

by every color in which it appears.

وهي في أي صبغة هي فيها

ذاتها لا تزال والألقابا

And in whatever coloring it finds itself,

its essence persists, together with its names.

كل شيء نطق الوجود حروف

عاليات تحيّر الألبابا

Everything is existence's utterance—letters

exalted, bewildering the minds.

قلم إن بحثت عنه ولوح

باعتبار ولقبوه الكتابا

A pen, if you seek it, and a tablet

in one respect; and they called it the Book.

وهي عين ترى وتدرك أبدت

ما سواها الجفون والأهدابا

And it is an eye that sees and perceives; it has shown

all other than itself as eyelids and lashes.

شمس ذات لها الأشعة أسما

ء عليها الجميع كان سحابا

A sun of essence, whose rays are names;

above it, all things were clouds.

تتجلى بنا فنظهر عنها

مثل ما يظهر البقاع السرابا

It reveals itself through us, and we appear from it,

just as the land makes a mirage appear.

لكن الغِرُّ بالحقائق لا يع

رف شيأ فيحسب الشهد صابا

But the naïve one, concerning realities, knows not

a thing, and so takes honey for bitter sap.

ويظن الوجود قسمين هذا

خطأ منه لا يكون صوابا

And he supposes existence to be in two divisions; this

is an error on his part, not a correct judgment.

ويزيد الشرك الخفي عليه

كلما غاير الشراب الحبابا

And hidden polytheism increases in him

whenever he distinguishes the wine from its bubbles.

والكلام المجازعين الحقيقي

وترى في معناهما استغرابا

And figurative speech is identical with literal speech,

and you find strangeness in the meaning of both.

لكن المنكر الجهول غبى

ومحب السوى له يتغابى

But the ignorant denier is foolish,

and the lover of otherness feigns ignorance about it.

والذي يفهم الأمور تراه

جامعاً فارقاً عصياً مجابا

And one who understands these matters, you see

uniting and distinguishing, defiant, with prayers answered.

هذا ملة بها الله أدنى

منه أهل الكمال والأقطابا

This is a creed through which God has brought

the people of perfection and the spiritual poles closer to Himself.

لم يوفق لها الإله سوى من

خرَّ نجماً على الجهول شهابا

God has granted success in it only to one who

fell as a star upon the ignorant one—a blazing meteor—

حافظاً لما يزل عهود التصابي

في شهود الوجود والآدابا

still preserving the vows of youthful dalliance

in witnessing existence, and the courtesies as well.

فعليه السلام ما حن قلب

نحو أحبابه وزاد التهابا

So peace be upon him, as long as a heart yearns

toward its beloveds and grows more aflame,

وبسعدى رأى العذاب نعيماً

حين وافته والنعيم عذابا

and through Sa'da sees torment as bliss

when she comes to it, and bliss as torment.