1. I sat while my eyelids flowed with tears,
Complaining to him of the sorrows of life and reproaching him,

2. And asking him about the questions of my tears,
And what is the last tear and its gifts.

3. I forgot when feeling was stirred and
The desires of wishes were disrupted,

4. And the fortunes of time passed me as if
I were the tail of fate and death its procession.

5. The pacts of the days of youth that passed,
Time took away the grantor of youth and stripped it.

6. I shook my hand except for poetry, it is
My consolation when the days reveal their calamities.

7. With it I adorn my hopes, then repeat them
Like brides lit by passion and wonders.

8. You were my brother, my beloved friend and guide of our time,
And your love is betrothed, and I am the suitor.

9. So if I return after separation, the return is more beloved
To you, and the sweetest union is what separation brings.

10. For the desperate heart you are rest,
When its hopes and desires stumble.

11. You are the meadow, protecting its plants,
Stirred by the breeze of morn and caressed.

12. It accepts you as plunder, so you make it prosperous, and
The pleasures of the human meadow are only its lovers.

13. The world notices you for you are its Lord,
And around you angels, a magnificent procession.

14. So the moon and sun take refuge in you
Whenever the vast universe reproaches them.

15. The sky sees itself in you, so its smile clears
And its light is a flirtation caressing it.

16. And you see your flowering beauty in it,
So who is the Lord of Beauty of you two and its companion?

17. But when your heart revolts, hating
It, and this water foams its waves,

18. You roar as if the thunderous clouds’ cry
Resounds, echoed from afar.

19. You erupt and the universe rages around you,
Assailing the world while you assault it.

20. This sky lightens, unleashing its wrath
In clouds, as a night poured its darkness.

21. It provoked lightning against you, so you massed
And massed your own raging armies.

22. You surged with a wave, whenever it tossed foam,
Rising and its torrents and lightnings spread.

23. Raiding it battle after battle
In relays timing the engagements and skirmishes.

24. You fought it mockingly with its torrents
Arrogantly leaping and bounding.

25. Until you exhausted it, till its troops retreated
And returned with its plain in gloom and defeat.

26. It sent this sun to request a truce
From you – and the Lord of Beauty fulfills its demands.

27. So you returned as you are – your face smiling
And your light shimmering and your water potable.

28. The birds of water flutter above you seeking
Food, and you give what they seek.

29. Ships sail on the water’s surface
Ships gliding like the smooth earth.

30. And under the water, worlds swim in you
As if Jinn’s fifth kind rose in tumult.

31. There is another universe like ours
Where ageless lives live free of time.

32. With dimensions expanding tranquilly
And forests stretching and wadis meandering.

33. Slopes roused with dreams beneath which
Grass is green with shoots and buds.

34. The engulfing deep was once its space
Its horizons witnessed and its sunsets known.

35. There love is like our love
And the sea’s daughters are only lovelies.

36. The strong takes from the weak as
Among us contention and strife come to be.

37. Except they know no sleep, so they see
No disturbing, weird dreams.

38. Their Creator’s command came to them as
It came to us – and God is just in His laws.

39. A day saddened is long, warring
With despair in my heart and resisting.

40. I walked while much of my grief was little
Dispelled by your nearness, observing it.

41. And above my head infinity bends
Over its like, and the universe strange wonders.

42. They stretch the lights of beauty smiling
To a distant horizon, its edges obscured.

43. There they shook hands, and its face
Exulted, swimming in the gifts it grants.

44. As if remnants of the world joined
A spiritual world, its ranks exalted.

45. Savage night overcame me, so your waters darkened
Until the water’s clamor drowned.

46. I saw in the sky the stars arrayed
Long-beamed, far-reaching lights.

47. Inclining toward the sky, their faces
Nearly drawing close to their Lord and nearing Him.

48. Their glances upon the waters, all
Humbled hearts, silent thoughts, bashful gazes.

49. I was distracted all night by these scenes
Until the caller of darkness called at its gloom.

50. So I returned, and void appeared before my eyes,
And truest to the eye is what is false.

51. I saw with the eye of my soul my life and state,
And I am a guest, fleeting ships.

52. And that I am in the great universe a visitor
To it - though spread before me are its meals.

53. And that after a time, no doubt, alone
I will leave the universe, and oblivion will obscure my tracks.

54. And earth will deliver me to extinction
Where I will lose all I had gained

55. And be deprived even of a glance or smile
To the face of beaming space and its planets.

56. So I called my Lord pleading and merciful
And my eyelids became brimming clouds.

57. To you the saddened soul returns seeking
When sorrows usurp hopes in the heart.

58. I confide in you, stripped of joy and restraint,
And my life grieves and contends with me.

59. For if not for beloved eyes that revive desire
And their lights that inspire what I compose,

60. With the blueness of the water, its secret in you
And the wondrous magic in them,

61. I would lay myself down beside the dust
Casting away my life, for life is much suffering.