1. A body in love's passion is frail,
And a heart wherein longing's fever prevails,

2. With backs, as you see, and bellies,
Wherein decrease and increase alternate,

3. And veils drawn before the face of truth,
Whereby hope in it grows rightful and delays,

4. And lightnings whereby darkness shines bright,
And thunderclaps whereby knowledge flows streaming,

5. O company of travellers, this is the abode of Salma,
So alight in it, no lodger therein is disappointed,

6. And hear from the mouth of existence a discourse
Without crookedness in it or change,

7. And drink it, a vintage renewed,
In cups whereof the tempering is ginger,

8. And read it a book wherein is no doubt,
Brought down on it ever is Gabriel,

9. And if you wish it, it is beautiful,
A bride whose eyelids are blackened with kohl,

10. The king of beauty His face is light,
Above it the crown shines and circlet,

11. And it is in the world, in our view, Qur'an—
No Psalms now left, nor Gospel,

12. And the meanings of them all are mysteries
And sciences brought by Revelation,

13. A creed for unitarians, daytime,
And on associators a long night,

14. They attacked with their reasons and drew them forth,
And found in their palms but imagining,

15. And they desired to gain the prize but there came to them
Loss, for that He misguided them and led them astray,

16. They sought it to be a tray for their passions,
But it refused and to it the way was hidden,

17. So they took to denying what they could not attain,
And for their pretention they had an argument,

18. Their fortune was like their fortune towards other than it—
Nothing but delusion and idle desire,

19. This is the assembly whose people have
Debarred it from him who seeks to sponge,

20. And to detail it briefly they made a summary,
And to summarize it they made a detail,

21. The folk stood perplexed before it,
And by it wounded and slain amongst them,

22. Whenever it beckoned to them with anything,
That thing with them had preference,

23. Sometimes with beauty it revealed itself to them,
And thereon everything seems beautiful,

24. And when with majesty the revelation took place,
Prolonged speech arose from the ignorant and was said,

25. O sons, this path you are upon,
In gardens, and your water fresh-flowing,

26. And your provision comes to you from God,
Mornings and evenings, not stinted,

27. So serve Him thereby with self-disclosure from you,
And beware trespass and take care of the lawful and unlawful,

28. Then be it by annihilation, and let there subsist you
By continuance, for that is the root of a genuine branch,

29. She is Salma, and all of them her suitors,
And to her all hearts incline,

30. She appeared with slender shape and flexures,
And a face like a lamp,

31. We saw guidance, no likening remains with us,
Continuance abides with us and no nullification,

32. "Hush! Bow yourself, you are not shown by
The Real (but) this disconnectedness and detachment!"

33. How long the ignorance in you? Behold, it shone,
Where now from you magnifying and extolling?

34. Do not pelt her if you are niggardly towards your soul about her
Never shall the niggard obtain his desire,

35. Enter her house submissively, to see her while you are abject,
And approach with what you contain to her,

36. That perhaps she may grant you your request,
How many a youth she disclosed herself to and then was veiled,

37. But the eye from beholding her beauty held back!
While she in the All shows herself in every robe

38. Were it not for figuration and symbolization,
A sun whose rays are the souls,

39. In the wilds, while the body is a little shadow,
Everything through her indeed became a thing,

40. And by deprecating it she magnified it,
She, none but she, though generations passed away,

41. Appearing through them as generations came,
The meanings are many: error

42. And guidance, but right is little,
And that we are in, it is unaffected by

43. Abrogation or change in the long course of time,
So cling, I have advised you sincerely,

44. And keep to what I say, for God is my Guarantor.