1. Before the light could see the darkness
And life and the living came to be

2. He who had no beginning began his world
And he whom no end can contain

3. Was and the grand idea was a dream
Part earth, part sky and space

4. A dream too lofty for fantasy, its truth
Affirmed by fate’s firm decree

5. The universe woke from its long slumber
And in its eyes a virgin vision

6. And existence took on the beauty of its horizons
And all its parts were intoxicated

7. And God saw everything as He willed
And God can see whatever He wills

8. And he revealed himself, so the hearts of the devout shook
And the regions were covered

9. And from every horizon prayers soared to Him
In which supplications flowed

10. Lord, this existence is made by Your hands
You are the builder, we the building

11. Lord, and the whole cosmos is Your book
In which mysteries and blessings lie

12. Lord, this beauty is the essence of Your meaning
A meaning subtly concealed

13. Lord, and beings are Your spirit in them
Their becoming an unending flow

14. Lord, though speechless life abounds in them
Their voices are but silent awe

15. Lord, all things in You are made limpid
A voice to proclaim Your miracle

16. Lord, this human is Your shadow on earth
Conscious, wise, and keen

17. Lord, people are like flocks, and this earthly abode
For them a desert

18. Lord, so choose from the flocks, the devout
Through whom devotion flows to You

19. Their faith is You, truth and love
All religions to them the same

20. Give them the wine of the sanctified till
Their being forgets its parts

21. And light their way, for they may stumble
Seeking, though, the right path

22. And love them with magic flutes
Whose whispers fill the air

23. And whose pain their watchdog forever
Sipping its rich wine

24. And let their name hold a note of eternity
That all other names desire

25. Ancient wisdom has said this wish
The cosmos cannot answer or fulfill

26. So take joy in what you love, O land
For I bring into being and create

27. In time, fate will take its course
Both bliss and sorrow following

28. After time, they will grieve whom fortune deserted
And rejoice whom happiness crowned

29. No contradiction was inherent in creation
For things cannot be made to coincide

30. All things made subservient to their Creator
So evening belonged to morning’s light

31. A sorrow differentiated by bliss, and bliss
Shot through by sorrow

32. Hearts drunk on wishes, and hearts
To wishes dry desolation

33. He who brings together disparates, example
Of His affection, opposites and peers

34. The Creator in Whom I find strength
Sustaining the weak

35. The universe’s poet, whom no universe contains
Though made of dust and water

36. Sorcerer of light and darkness, how lofty
His light makes darkness vanish

37. He is life’s heartbeat, exulting when she sings
And weeping when she wails

38. He is embodied spirit, his soul is God
And the thinking of his mind exaltation

39. His image is people's senses, horizon
Fading into its hazy air

40. Restless as life, shackles kill him
The hostile chained

41. Still as death, he creates with dreams
Beyond destiny’s appointed lot

42. He draws pain in revelation's rapture
In it the cure, the afflictions

43. A bird whose nest is time, his desire
Hearts and passions his wings

44. A blossom whose song is life, a well
Whose chant no sky can still

45. A trance in which senses dissolve
Hearts and loves its echo

46. His heart the larger world, its tone gentleness
And mercy and brotherhood

47. He made it like the light in every case
Radiant in love and mosque alike

48. His mind a theater that fates designed
Lit by spotlights from every side

49. A theater whose director is revelation
To it belong life and death

50. Eternal actors in it are his visions and
Wild beautiful dreams

51. Night and day witness them
A tale that baffled the wise

52. The tale of death and life, confusing
Minds and misleading minds

53. It distracted him from life, its meanings, and lured
Him to guile's superficial glaze

54. So disclosure turned in him to hiding
As all space he contained

55. And his unfettered soul moved through time
With the wine of its inspiration

56. And he went like a ray racing lifetime
His world, ferment and fulness

57. Thought raging, imagination provoked
Its fruits for him joy and vitality

58. The small creator's joy when truth
Sublime beholds him

59. He asks God, while in his fiery being
Radiant with glories strange

60. Calls to Him: fear no neglect if matters
Hollow feign heedlessness

61. You are I, since existence was a babe
And limbs on their own stood

62. So enlighten people what fetters hide
From them, desire, the base

63. Messengers, all are but my book
My tongue, revelation, news

64. You will suffer and be blissful like others
All you see but trial

65. So inspire people, not yourself, O poet
Cry out till song itself dies out

66. And when it dies, and you are freed
Yours from me the smallest prize

67. A paradise as wide as the heavens and earth
And eternity the loyal gain

68. Let not the threat of hell dismay you
For I am merciful and compassionate

69. So turn your ship however you want
The winds cannot dismay you

70. For here is the shore wrapped in secrets
Where voyage ends and ties

71. And tomorrow you will meet your self, my self
To say: life and the living!

72. One has died of those the truth inspired
You, O poets, are the people