1. When my eyes awoke
In my humiliation and disgrace

2. I resolved to rid myself
Of my desires that misled me

3. And reason told me: Rule yourself
And let your will obey you

4. You cannot enjoy
Love without my reign

5. And love is not sustained
Unless by my passions

6. So I found no relief
From obedience one day

7. I began feeding it with shame
While my soul wandered in confusion

8. And it intoxicated my spirit
With the rhythm of my fluttering

9. A rhythm of flames
And a rhythm of smoke

10. I thought my bliss
Was in that volcano

11. My Lord, forgive me, I am an infidel soul
You made the shelter of life easy, so I said:

12. Stop, oh soul, and drink deep at the spring of pleasures
My nature strayed

13. From its disposition
Until it tossed between heroism and arrogance

14. And I forgot that I am but grass
Growing on the rim of an earthenware jug

15. On the rim of a jug, whose handle
Would break off if glanced upon

16. So it is an old clay pot
Ancient as time itself

17. Centuries passed over it
Changing the paint’s hue

18. And decay prepared in it
Corridors for worms

19. An old clay pot
Defiled by human notions

20. Its sides disputed
The injustice of religions

21. As if religion in it
Was a kind of affliction

22. How often its raging currents
Had promised it

23. And how much burst yesterday
From its volcano

24. It remains for centuries
And disappears in moments

25. Its potter is sometimes gentle
Sometimes authoritative

26. He forbids and orders destruction
Traps and fires

27. Its worms are drunk
On wine of crowns

28. If only it knew
The meaning of confusion

29. My Lord, forgive me, I am an infidel soul
An old clay pot molded with tears and clay

30. Since the days of Cain or before Cain
Nero ignited its dying embers

31. Those volcanoes were Nero's eyelids
A group of heroic maniacs

32. Attacked it with free conquest
Alexander was but a ghost

33. Veiling the sun from Diogenes' eyes
Genghis was but

34. A spark in existence
That blazed and faded

35. Among the fleeting ashes
O Lord of the Mongols, God of

36. Fires and defiance
The ways of fire revolted against him

37. As the ways of fire revolt
And fire destroys all

38. Except memories in minds
It left a memory

39. For Kisra Anushirvan
And ruined what he built

40. Of lofty buildings
Leaving only remnants

41. Of Khosrow's palace
Those remnants are lessons

42. Of time for man
Those remnants are symbols

43. Of hopes' mockery
Where is what

44. The mighty Romans built
A dream of glory only left

45. Legends on tongues
The decree of fate is that

46. Only loss remains
As for perfection, it is a dream

47. In the slumber of deficiency
It is slowly attained

48. On the backs of years
With determination and wisdom

49. Until words are for the flood
And fire and havoc have their way

50. Mother of earthquakes shaking
Every place

51. Their traces lasting
As lesions on the eyelids

52. While people, oh would that I knew!
Are two different things:

53. A blind man with two
Visionary eyes

54. And a seeing one, darkened by
Two eyes that cannot see

55. I see Your lofty will calling me
With the fire's revolt in those volcanoes

56. My Lord, will my dream end with a spark
Of flames and the clay vanish into clay?

57. Will I see crawling in the night, burning
With the embers of wrath in devils' hands?

58. I call You as the red darkness burns me
But You do not answer or save me

59. I turned away from You when my heart misguided me
As if the desires of my heart sufficed me

60. And when I woke from the intoxication of passion ashamed
I looked for You and disgrace almost hid me

61. But You did not refrain Your merciful heart from my pain
And said: Seek me among the poor

62. But after my penance
For my confusion

63. I returned to grievous sins
Diverse in their colors

64. Defiled with tears
And dyed with blood

65. And I said to my heart: Release
Your reigns upon my vices

66. God's apparition is distant
And His eye sees me not

67. And it is said a woeful day
Will come before its time

68. When fire will penetrate
And judgment is to the Judge

69. So I asked myself for a
Defense of my unfaith

70. But found none to defend me
Except my confusion

71. My Lord, forgive me, I am an infidel soul