1. He tasted the vigor of youth and relished passion,
Understanding the glances of his doe-eyed beloved and pining for her.

2. Infatuated with lightning, he weeps whenever
He thinks it smiles amid the folds.

3. Unaware whether it was lightning that folded
Or Salima unveiled her face in the darkness.

4. So the rain narrated the weeping of its tears
And its inner self told of the burning of the lightning.

5. It was not the first downpour of passion—
The lightning resembled her mouth, so he kissed it.

6. May God destroy a lightning amid fever
That unleashed tears but kept the clouds.

7. It envied the lightning of her cheeks, so it irrigated,
Yet did not quench the thirst of the rugged land.

8. If its torrents have protected it from him
The irrigation has compensated it with sips and dewdrops.

9. And he who is sad amid the fever—you would think
Its shadow is from a bee, but it is from sickness.

10. It watches the spirits, hoping that if
A morning breeze blows, it will reach the living in peace.

11. And it thinks the shooting stars in their mansions
Are the tents of the feverish and the encampments.

12. Thus it pours in passion—not the pure nectar of youth—
And woos the stars all night long.

13. It left its loved one for a relative
Alive amid their dwellings, so it blamed him.

14. Tell him I have told you, but knowingly,
And I refused righteousness, but insightfully.

15. Leave a people be; if they attained what they craved
They would take the branches and increase their madness.

16. They befriended passion, so it became to them
The heat of fervor—cool and peaceful.

17. No blame to one in passion tomorrow
If the heart aches and he lives obsessed.

18. Is it disgraceful when a lover
Stays up at night then sleeps?

19. If passion saw a day when they
Reached their goal, blame would be improper.

20. If only his eyelids saw
What they saw and cried a year, then a year more.

21. Wherever it finds them, the fever has flared,
Like darkness over roses in disarray.

22. They attained union and so returned with the meeting
A new life, when they had been withered.

23. In a fever where no seeker of refuge fears
Its shadows will oppress him.

24. Among a people whose lifelong custom is
To honor the guest and tend to the blameworthy.

25. The Guide who, were it not for his blood,
Would not have known the Sanctum nor visited the Station.

26. Most generous of people to God and on
The Day of Judgement—indeed their station!

27. To him belongs the Basin whose cups
Are like stars, transcending stinginess and clustering.

28. And the banner of praise under which
Are the prophets of God, so excellent and perfect.

29. The seal of messengers, though they
Are before him in rank on the Day of Virtue.

30. He has become the forefather
Of prophets, and in time, the seal.

31. The Night Journey companion, to the highest heaven
Awake on a night that was no dream.

32. The matter ended, and darkness did not
Change its essence it began with, nor promise, nor station.

33. It called upon the trees, so they bent
To its command, obediently, not disobeying its course.

34. It accomplished what it willed of them, and since
It said "Return," they returned to what they were.

35. And the pebbles glorified in its palm,
The staff became a sword in its right hand.

36. And the trunk, when it left it,
Yearned until it embraced it again.

37. I wish the days gone by would return, even
Among the imaginations of the deluded, to gather.

38. With the rest of my life, I would be
Arrows before humanity, flying and transcending.

39. God comfort the woman who was his neighbor,
Who saw no separation as long as she lived.

40. Reassured, not caring with him
If life departs quickly or lingers.

41. Wherever he wished, here or there,
Before his chamber or saying "Peace."

42. Oh, what a bounty for one who possesses it!
They gained in both abodes magnificent boons.

43. Not like passion that, whenever the fever
Longs from afar, the doves know sadness.

44. May God bestow peace upon that sanctuary
And quench it with pouring, harmony and beauty.

45. And renew the covenant wherein
The morning breeze breathes the spirit of the meadows.