تعشقْتُ نفساً ما رأيت لها عيناً

وما سمعتْ أذناي فيها من الخلقِ

I fell in love with a soul I never saw with my eyes

Nor did my ears hear anyone speak of her beauty

كلاماً يؤدّيني إلى حسن عينها

فعشقي لها بالاتفاقِ وبالوفق

With words that would lead me to the charm of her eyes

So my love for her was a matter of chance and destiny

مناسبة تخفى على كلِّ ناظر

ويعلمها العلاَّم بالرتْقِ والفتْق

An affinity hidden from every beholder’s eyes

Known only to the All-Knowing in subtlety and insight

أشاهد منها كلَّ سرٍّ محجبٍ

وما لي فيها غير ذلك من حَقِّ

I witness in her every unseen mystery

And have no right to her but that

وليس حجابي غير كوني فلو مضى

قعدت مع المحبوبِ في مقعد الصدق

My barrier is only that I exist, so if it disappeared

I would sit with the Beloved in the abode of truth

وهذا محال أن يكون ذهابه

فما ثَمَّ صفوٌ لا يخلطُ بالرفق

But it is impossible that it would disappear

So there is no pure communion without reserve

تجلّى لنا بالأفقْ بدراً مكملاً

وإن فؤادي لا يحنّ إلى الأفق

The full moon appeared to us on the horizon

Yet my heart does not yearn for the horizon

وإن كان حقاً فالمجالي كثيرةٌ

وشرعي نهاني عنه في حلبةِ السبقِ

And if it were true, my options are many

And my sacred law has forbidden me to take that course

لقد أوَّبَ الحقُّ العليمُ بلادنا

نفوسَ عبادٍ حظُّها الوهم إذ يلقى

Indeed, the All-Knowing has set our country

With souls whose fortune is illusion when they meet

وسرَّحني في كلِّ وجه بوجهة

ولم يتقيد لي بغربِ ولا شرقِ

And has left me free in every direction

Neither confined to West nor East

وفرَّق لي ما بين كوني وكونه

وإنَّ وجودَ السعد في ذلك الفرق

And has separated between my existence and His

And happiness lies indeed in that difference

تعالى فلم تَعلم حقيقةُ ذاتِه

سَغِلت فلم أجهل فحدِّي في نُطقي

Transcendent! I do not know the reality of His Essence

I am busy, yet not ignorant, so define me in my speech

ولم أدر أنَّ الحدَّ يشملُ كونه

وكوني إذا كانت هويته خلقي

And I did not know that defining includes His existence

And mine, since my identity is His creation

كما جاء في الوحي المقرَّرِ صدقه

على ألسن الأرسالِ والقولُ للحق

As stated in the Revelation whose truth is confirmed

By the tongues of the Messengers, and the word belongs to Truth

به يسمع العبدُ المطيعُ به يرى

به يظهر الأفعال في الفتقِ والرتق

By it the obedient servant hears, by it he sees

By it actions become distinct in subtlety and clarity

لو أنَّ الذي قد لاح منه يلوح لي

ولا شرع عندي ما جنحتُ إلى الفِسقِ

If that which has appeared to me would shine for me

And I had no sacred law, I would have inclined to sin

وكنتُ بما قد لاح لي في بصيرةٍ

فقيدني بالشرعِ كشفاً وما يبقى

And if I had insight into what has appeared to me

My sacred law has limited me, revealing yet veiling what remains

خلافاً فإنَّ الأمر فيه لواحد

ولا ينكر الحقَّ الذي جاء بالحقِّ

Contrariwise, the matter belongs to the One

And Truth does not deny what Truth has brought

إلهي يحبُ الرفقَ في الأمر كله

كذلك أهلُ الله يأتون بالرفق

My God loves gentleness in every matter

Thus the people of God come with gentleness

لقد شاهدتْ عيني ثلاثَ أسرَّة

وفي ثالثٍ منها ازورارٌ مِنَ العرق

My eyes witnessed three secrets

And in the third were buttons of sweat

وأخره عن صاحبيه اعتراقه

وكلٌّ له شربُ رويٍّ من الحق

Its flowing distinguished it from the other two

Though each has a flowing draft of truth

موازين لا تخطيك فالوزن قائمٌ

ولا سيما في عالم الحبِّ والعشق

Balances you do not transgress, so the weighing is just

Especially in the world of love and passion

ظفرتُ به حقاً جلياً مقدساً

ولا حقَّ إلا ما تضمنه حقي

I obtained it truly, manifestly, sacredly

And no truth save what my truth contains

نطقتُ به عنه فكان منطقي

وقد زاد في الإشكالِ ما بي من النطقِ

I spoke of it from it, so my speech

Increased the dilemma due to my speech

تقسم هذا الأمر بيني وبينه

فها هو في شِقٍّ وها أنا في شِقِّ

It divides this matter between me and him

So here it is in one perspective, and here I am in another

وصورةُ هذا ما أقول لصاحبي

أنا عبد قنٍّ وهو لي مالك الرِّق

The form of this is what I say to my companion

I am an obedient servant, and he is my Master

عبوديةٌ ذاتيةٌ لم أزل بها

وما لي عنها من فكاك ولا عتق

A selfhood I have never ceased to have

And have no release or liberation from it

إذا رزق العبد النهي لنيل ما

يكون من الرزق من خالص الرزق

When the servant is granted self-denial, to attain

What comes to be of sustenance, from the essence of sustenance

وما رُزق الإنسان أعلى من الذي

يحصله بالعين في لمحةِ البَرق

And the highest sustenance granted humans

Is what the spiritual eye attains in the blink of an eye

فذلك رزقُ الذاتِ ما هو غيره

وآثاره فينا الذي كان في الوَدْق

That is the sustenance of the Essence, not other than it

And its traces in us were what was in the water skin.