هبطت إليكَ من المحلِّ الأرفعِ

نفسٌ ترآت في وشاح لا يعي

You descended to me from the highest abode

A soul that left behind a cloak that knows not

دقت ورقَّت جوهراً فكأنها

ورقاءُ ذات تعزُّزٍ وتمنُّع

She knocked and turned into a delicate essence as though

She were thin sheets fortified and aloof

محجوبةٌ عن كل مقلة عارفٍ

كمّاً وكيفاً كالجهات الأربع

Veiled from every knower, in quantity and quality

Like the four directions

لكن قواها كيف يمكن سترُها

وهي التي سَفَرَت ولم تتبرقع

But her powers - how can they be concealed

When she travelled unveiled

وصلت على كرهٍ إليك وربما

فازت بحيِّز جسمها بالمطلع

She reached you reluctantly and perhaps

Won her physical space at dawn

حتى إذا ما لابستك بلطفها

كرهت فراقك فهي ذات توجُّع

Until when she clothed you with her gentleness

She disliked parting from you, she feels pain

أَلِفت وما ألفت فلما واصلت

حلَّت وما حلَّت عراك بموضع

She became accustomed, yet did not, so when she met

She settled, yet did not, your struggle in place

صدرت عن الأمر العزيز وإنما

ألفت مجاورةَ الخراب البلقع

She turned from the Almighty's command, but

Became accustomed to ruins and desolation

وأظنُّها نسيت عهوداً بالحمى

كلّا ولكن شوقُها لم يُقلِع

And I think she forgot pledges of passion

No! But her longing did not relent

قنعت بمصدرها وحلت أربُعاً

ومنازلاً بفراقها لم تَقنع

Content with her source, she settled for four

And homes - with her separation she was not content

حتى إذا اتصلت بهاء هبوطها

وتركَّبت مع جسمها المتوجع

Until when the splendor of her descent connected

And her aching body was fully adorned

وانحطَّ شأنُ ذكائها وسنائها

من ميم مركزها بدار الأجرَع

And the brilliance and loftiness of her intellect declined

From the letter meem of her center in the house of bareness

عَلقَت بها ثاءُ الثقيل فأصبحت

في كل عضوٍ صُنعُها لم يُمنَع

The heavy ta stuck to her and she became

In each limb her making was unrestrained

تختال في بُردِ اختيارٍ مع نهىً

بين المعالم والطلول الخُضَّع

She struts in the cold of free choice and prohibition

Between landmarks and submissive hills

تبكي وقد ذكرت عهوداً بالحمى

هيهاتِ منك سرورها بالمرتع

She cries when she remembers passionate pledges

Alas, her joy in pasture from you is denied

إن أحسنت فعلاً وتبكي إن جنت

بمدامعٍ تهمي ولما تُقلِع

If she does good, she cries, with tears that accuse, when she sins

And remains turning in grief over the dung

وتظل ساجعةً على الدِّمَن التي

ألفت بها لذّات عيشٍ أَشنَع

That she became accustomed to, for the pleasures

Of a miserable life

لولاه مانعَت الديارُ بها وإن

دُرِسَت بتكرار الرياح الأربع

Were it not for the Preserver, the lands would have destroyed her

Though eroded by the blowing four winds

إذ عاقها الشَّرَكُ الكثيف وصدَّها ال

مَيلُ الضعيف عن العلاء الأرفع

Since dense polytheism denied her, and the inclination

Of the weak turned her away from the Highest

زلَّت فضلت عن هداه فكفَّها

نقصٌ عن الأوج الفسيح الأربُع

She slipped, distracted from His guidance, so deficiency

Deprived her of expansive loftiness

حتى إذا قرب المسير إلى الحمى

وانحل تركيب الكثيف الأسفَع

Until when the journey to the Abode was near

And the composition of the dense darkness dispersed

وتجهَّزت نحو العُلا بمُجرَّدٍ

ودنا الرحيل إلى الفضاء الأوسع

And she prepared with only Him toward the Most High

And departure to the vast space drew nigh

وغدت مفارقةً لكل مخلَّفٍ

موضوعِ كل ممزق ومصدَّع

She became one who parts from all left behind

Subject of every tear and rupture

ويعود جزءُ وجودها لوجوده

فيها حليفَ التُربِ غيرَ مُشيَّع

And a part of her existence returns to His existence

In her the soil's ally not mourned

هيجعت وقد كُشِفَ الغطاء فأبصرت

بالإنفصال مقامَ كل مودِّع

She awoke when the cover was removed and saw

In separation the position of all bidding farewell

واستَدركت في ذاتها فتحقَّقت

ما ليس يُدرَك بالعيون الهُجَّع

And she realized within herself and became certain

Of what cannot be realized by drowsy eyes

وغدت تغرد فوق ذروة شاهقٍ

يا ليتني أحكمتُ حكمةَ مربعي

And she came to sing atop a towering summit

"If only I had exercised sound judgment in my square"

فالجهل يخفض شأن كل ممنَّعٍ

والعلمُ يَرفَع كل من لم يُرفَع

For ignorance demeans every defiant one

And knowledge raises everyone not raised

فلأي شيءٍ أُهبِطت من شامخٍ

إلّا لتحظى بالإله الأرفع

"So for what was I brought down from the towering?

Except to be blessed by the Highest

فلذاك خرت عن سُرادق مُرتَقٍ

سامٍ إلى قعر الحضيض الأوضع

Thus did I fall from the sublime pavilion

To the bottom of the low valley

إن كان أهبطها الإلهُ لحكمةٍ

علويةٍ وتشبَّثت بالأضلُع

If the God brought me down for a lofty wisdom

And I clung to ribs

فَسَرَت وسُرَّت مَربَعاً مع أنها

طويت عن الفذِّ اللبيب الأروع

I was happy, though folded from the exceptional intellectual

For my descent, if a blow from a powerful one

فهبوطها إن كان ضربةً لازبٍ

فعلام تحفل باعتراضِ الألكَع

Why do I care for barking of the foolish?

Why did I not hear of her victory and bounty

هلّا سمعت بفوزها ونعيمها

لتكون سامعةً لما لم يُسمَع

To be a hearer of what was not heard?

And to know all that is unseen

وتعود عالمةً بكل خفيةٍ

في ذاته إن أُهِّلَت في المَشرَع

In His essence, if empowered in the niche

She reaps in seeing Him minute subtleties

تَجني برؤياه اختبار دقائقٍ

في العالمين وخَرقُها لم يُرقَع

In both worlds - their being patched cannot be hoped

She who cut time's course

وهي التي قطع الزمان طريقَها

لجوارِها جِرمَ الثقيل الأوضع

To dwell near the heavy celestial sphere

And she who prevented years from rising

وهي التي منعَ السنونَ بزوغَها

حتّى لقد غَرَبت بغير المطلع

Until she set without the horizon

So it is as if she were lightning that flashed with passion

فكأنها برقٌ تألَّق بالحمى

لوجودها فينا وجود المُسرِع

For her existence in us is that of the swift

Eternal, while lightning glimmers for a moment

أبديةٌ والبرق أومض لَمحةً

ثم انطوى فكأنه لم يَلمَع

Then folds as if it never shone