1. I swore by the flags of Mina thronging with pilgrims,
And by all that valley and spacious camp contained,

2. And by every camel-leader tugging his camel's rope,
When the litters are relieved of their noble burdens,

3. And by the pilgrims' chant as their voices rose and fell,
While the hill-tops round were wrapped in their glacial shrouds,

4. And by the awe of the Day of Sacrifice, when the victim falls,
With every precious life that is ended to ransom men,

5. Beyond all doubt it is equal, the near and the far alikely unmoved by the turns of fortune.
My tears flow down without cease from a suffering eye,

6. And a fiery passion burns in my heart that will not be quenched,
My heart is distracted when my glance lights on the campsite -

7. Then my glance starts forth when the heart grows calm.
When, if you stripped my body of its shirt, the folk

8. Would say, 'He bears the very mark of love.'
Why am I blamed for the passion that lives in my heart,

9. Consumed by yearning and reproach each hour?
While I give you pure friendship, sincere and undefiled,

10. And show you pure affection - great is my distress!
When I absent me from your abode but an hour

11. I am mute; I have neither serious thought nor sport.
Oh would that I knew, did you pass a night in the vale

12. Where the dust settles thickly over its sandy floor,
Moistened by rain-clouds, while the wind blew fresh and cool,

13. Turning it green as the spring's first shoots appear?
Did the terrors of darkness affright you when the pickets

14. Were startled by riders who came and went in haste?
Did you wish for water, and did we supply it in plenty,

15. Pouring it freely from our leather water-bags?
Have you a house where you make your dwelling, and where

16. I might spread the letters and books that I suffer to keep?
I aspired to the heights, if for an hour I aspired,

17. But mine was a heart that followed the highest way.