1. رويدك حادي الركب فالجدّ مُسعرُ

    لواعجَ وجدٍ بالصبابة تزفرُ

    Gently, caravan driver, for haste kindles

    the burning pangs of longing that sigh with ardent love.

  2. وخذ وخدَ أعناق المطيّ مُذوّحاً

    وسر عَنَقاً فالشوق بالسوق أكبر

    And take the brisk stride of the mounts' necks, urging them on;

    and travel at a brisk pace, for longing grows stronger with urging.

  3. وعج شارحاً متن المنازل حثما ال

    معاني بذيّاك المغاني تقرّر

    And turn aside, expounding the text of the stations, wherever the

    meanings are established in those abodes.

  4. ومزّق جناح الليل رغماً على الكرى

    فعند رقاع السير يرقى التصبّر

    And tear the wing of night in defiance of sleep,

    for amid the journey's patches, patient endurance rises.

  5. وباكر إذا الركب اليمانيّ قد نوى

    لنجد الصبا إذ لا يليق التأخّر

    And set out early when the Yemeni caravan has resolved

    to head for Najd of the east wind, for delay is unseemly.

  6. وزمزم بكأس الشوق عند مقامها

    فليس لصبٍّ واردٍ عنه مصدر

    And murmur over longing's cup at her station,

    for a lovesick drinker arriving there has no way to depart from it.

  7. وعرّض بذكري حيثما الحال واحدٌ

    بحكم الهوى والشيء بالشيء يُذكر

    And allude to me wherever the state is the same,

    under love's rule; one thing calls another to mind.

  8. وإن شمتَ برق الجمع من أفق قربها

    بوحدة حق المحق فالفرقُ يظهر

    And if you glimpse the lightning of union from the horizon of her nearness,

    through the oneness of effacement's truth, distinction then appears.

  9. وإن ظهرت يوماً فعينُ ظهورِها

    بطونٌ لتوحيد التعدّدِ مظهر

    And if she manifests one day, the very essence of her manifestation

    is hiddenness, a manifestation of multiplicity's unification.

  10. فما الغير غير العين وهي كثيرةٌ

    بتعداد أسماءٍ وليست تكرّر

    For the other is none but the essence, which is manifold

    through an enumeration of names, yet does not repeat itself.

  11. شؤونٌ بها التكرار والأمر واحدٌ

    مظاهر سرٍّ واحدٍ تتكثّر

    Modes in which there is repetition, while the matter is one—

    manifestations of a single mystery, multiplying.

  12. فوحّد على تلك المثاني فإنّها

    بلوحك تُقرا والتجلّي المقرّر

    So affirm oneness amid those repeated verses, for they

    are read upon your tablet; and the established self-disclosure—

  13. بها اشهد ولا آلاء آلاتها الّتي

    لنظم لآلي الغين في العين تُنثر

    witness it through them, not the bounties of their instruments, which

    are scattered to string the pearls of ghayn within ayn.

  14. بجامعها فاسجد لها ثمّ فاقترب

    فذاك لعمري جامعٌ لك أزهر

    In her mosque, prostrate yourself to her, then draw near;

    for that, by my life, is a radiant mosque for you.

  15. وطالع سطوراً في طروس وجودها

    بدورُ معان في دجى الحرف تسفر

    And read lines in the parchments of her existence;

    full moons of meanings shine forth in the darkness of the letter.

  16. مصادر أفعالٍ تريك اشتقاقها

    ضمائر أسماءٍ بها الحال تخبر

    Sources of verbs show you their derivation;

    pronouns of nouns, through which the state speaks.

  17. ترى الخبر المرفوع بالفتح مبتدا

    بمعرفةٍ إن أُعربت تتنكّر

    You see the nominative predicate, through an opening, as a subject,

    through knowledge that, if inflected, becomes indefinite.

  18. غدا روضها الغضّ النضير بزهرها

    لمقتطف التحرير بالفتح يثمر

    Her tender, verdant garden has come, with her blossoms,

    to bear fruit, through an opening, for the gatherer of elucidation.

  19. معاني بيانٍ لاح مفتاحُ سعدِها ال

    مُطَوَّلِ أيدي السعد عنه تقصّر

    Meanings of eloquence: the key to their felicity has gleamed—the

    extended felicity that fortune's hands fall short of.

  20. عيون علومٍ عن ينابيع حكمةٍ

    بفيض فهومٍ بالصفا تتفجّر

    Springs of knowledge, from fountains of wisdom,

    burst forth in a flood of understanding through purity.

  21. إذا رمتها فاخلص وخلّص لذوقها

    شهود وجودٍ عن ورودك يُحجر

    If you seek her, be sincere, and cleanse, to taste her,

    the witnessing of existence that bars your approach.

  22. ومت وافنَ كي تحيا وتبقى لها وفي ال

    خمول بتجريدٍ وجودك يقبر

    And die, and be annihilated, that you may live and abide for her; and in the

    obscurity, through divestment, your existence is buried.

  23. ألا فاطّرح من حِدس نفسك تسترح

    وغيّر مراد الحبّ لا تتخيّر

    Take heed: cast aside your self's conjectures, and you will rest.

    And alter love's aim; do not pick and choose.

  24. تكون مريداً ثمّ فيك إرادةٌ

    كأنّك في حكم الوجود محيّر

    You become a seeker, yet a will remains within you,

    as though you were bewildered under the rule of existence.

  25. فجرّد بجدٍّ سيفَ عزمٍ مجاهداً

    وصُل قائلاً في الغير الله أكبر

    So draw, in earnest, the sword of resolve, striving,

    and charge, proclaiming amid otherness, 'God is greater!'

  26. وجاهد تشاهد واتّقوا الله تالياً

    يعلّمكم قد جاء نصٌّ مقرّر

    And strive, and you shall witness, reciting, 'And be mindful of God';

    'He teaches you'—an established text has come.

  27. وباكر وصل في بكرة وأصائل

    صلاةً على الأصل الّذي فيه تفخر

    And begin early, and offer, at dawn and in the late afternoons,

    a prayer upon the source in whom you take pride.

  28. عليه صلاةٌ من شذا نفحاتها

    بتسليمها قد فاح مسكٌ وعنبر

    Upon him be a blessing, from the fragrance of whose breaths,

    with its greeting of peace, musk and ambergris have wafted.

  29. وآلٍ وصحبٍ من همُ لسفائن ال

    علوم وللفيض اللدنيّ أبحر

    and upon his family and companions, who, for the ships of the

    sciences and for the divinely bestowed effusion, are seas.

  30. مدى الدهر ما هبّت من الغيب نسمةٌ

    على القلب بالفتح الإلهيّ تبشّر

    Throughout time, so long as a breeze blows from the unseen,

    upon the heart, bringing tidings of divine opening,

  31. وما الصبّ في الركب المجدّ السرى شدا

    رويدك حادي الركب فالجدُّ مسعر

    and so long as the lover in the caravan hastening its night journey sings:

    'Gently, caravan driver, for haste kindles.'