جسد في هوى المليح عليلُ

وفؤاد للشوق فيه غليلُ

A body in love's passion is frail,

And a heart wherein longing's fever prevails,

وظهور كما ترى وبطون

يحصل النقص منه والتكميل

With backs, as you see, and bellies,

Wherein decrease and increase alternate,

وستور تماط عن وجه حقٍّ

فيحق الرجاء والتأميل

And veils drawn before the face of truth,

Whereby hope in it grows rightful and delays,

وبروق بها الظلام ضياء

ورعود بها العلوم تسيل

And lightnings whereby darkness shines bright,

And thunderclaps whereby knowledge flows streaming,

أيها الركب هذه دار سلمى

فانزلواها ما خاب فيها النزيل

O company of travellers, this is the abode of Salma,

So alight in it, no lodger therein is disappointed,

واسمعوا من فم الوجود كلاماً

لا اعوجاج به ولا تحويل

And hear from the mouth of existence a discourse

Without crookedness in it or change,

واشربوه عتيقةً جددوها

بكؤوس مزاجها زنجبيل

And drink it, a vintage renewed,

In cups whereof the tempering is ginger,

واقرأوه الكتاب لا ريب فيه

نازل دائماً به جبريل

And read it a book wherein is no doubt,

Brought down on it ever is Gabriel,

وإذا شئتموه فهو مليح

أغيدٌ زان طرفَه التكحيل

And if you wish it, it is beautiful,

A bride whose eyelids are blackened with kohl,

ملك الحسن وجهه الحق نور

فوقه التاج لاح والإكليل

The king of beauty His face is light,

Above it the crown shines and circlet,

وهو في الكون عندنا قرآن

لا زبور بقي ولا إنجيل

And it is in the world, in our view, Qur'an—

No Psalms now left, nor Gospel,

وفهوم جميعها أسرار

وعلوم أتى بها التنزيل

And the meanings of them all are mysteries

And sciences brought by Revelation,

ملة للموحدين نهار

وعلى المشركين ليل طويل

A creed for unitarians, daytime,

And on associators a long night,

هجموا بالعقول فاغترفوها

فإذا في كفوفهم تخييل

They attacked with their reasons and drew them forth,

And found in their palms but imagining,

وأرادوا أن يظفروا فأتاهم

من هداها الحرمان والتضليل

And they desired to gain the prize but there came to them

Loss, for that He misguided them and led them astray,

قصدوها تكون طبق هواهم

فأبت واختفى إليها السبيل

They sought it to be a tray for their passions,

But it refused and to it the way was hidden,

فغدوا ينكرون ما لم ينالوا

ولهم بادعائهم تعليل

So they took to denying what they could not attain,

And for their pretention they had an argument,

حظهم مثل حظهم من سواها

ليس إلا الوسواس والتسويل

Their fortune was like their fortune towards other than it—

Nothing but delusion and idle desire,

هذه الحضرة التي أهلها قد

منعوها عمن به تطفيل

This is the assembly whose people have

Debarred it from him who seeks to sponge,

ولتفصيلها بهم إجمالٌ

ولإجمالِها بهم تفصيل

And to detail it briefly they made a summary,

And to summarize it they made a detail,

وقف القوم حائرين لديها

وجريح منهم بها وقتيل

The folk stood perplexed before it,

And by it wounded and slain amongst them,

كلما أومأت إليهم بشيء

كان للشيء عندهم تفضيل

Whenever it beckoned to them with anything,

That thing with them had preference,

تارة بالجمال فيهم تجلت

وعليهم فكل شيء جميل

Sometimes with beauty it revealed itself to them,

And thereon everything seems beautiful,

وإذا بالجلال كان التجلي

طال قالٌ من الجهول وقيل

And when with majesty the revelation took place,

Prolonged speech arose from the ignorant and was said,

يا بني هذه الطريقة أنتم

في جنان وماؤكم سلسبيل

O sons, this path you are upon,

In gardens, and your water fresh-flowing,

ولكم رزقكم من الله يأتي

كم به منه بكرةٌ وأصيل

And your provision comes to you from God,

Mornings and evenings, not stinted,

فاعبدوه به على الكشف منكم

وليراعَ التحريمُ والتحليل

So serve Him thereby with self-disclosure from you,

And beware trespass and take care of the lawful and unlawful,

ثم كونوه بالفنا وليَكُنْكُم

بالبقا فهو أصلُ فرع أصيل

Then be it by annihilation, and let there subsist you

By continuance, for that is the root of a genuine branch,

هي سلمى وكلهم طالبوها

وإليها كل القلوب تميل

She is Salma, and all of them her suitors,

And to her all hearts incline,

ظهرت بالقدود منعطفاتٍ

وبوجه كأنه قنديل

She appeared with slender shape and flexures,

And a face like a lamp,

فرأينا الهدى ولا تشبيهٌ

قد بقي عندنا ولا تعطيل

We saw guidance, no likening remains with us,

Continuance abides with us and no nullification,

صاح خفِّض عليك ليس يريك ال

حقَّ ذا الإنقطاعُ والتبتيل

"Hush! Bow yourself, you are not shown by

The Real (but) this disconnectedness and detachment!"

لمتى الجهل فيك هاهي لاحت

أين منك التكبير والتهليل

How long the ignorance in you? Behold, it shone,

Where now from you magnifying and extolling?

لا ترمها إن كنت تبخل بالنف

س عليها هيهات يحظى البخيل

Do not pelt her if you are niggardly towards your soul about her

Never shall the niggard obtain his desire,

وادخل الدار دارها بخضوع

لتراها بها وأنت ذليل

Enter her house submissively, to see her while you are abject,

And approach with what you contain to her,

وتقرب بما حويت إليها

فعساها لما طلبت تنيل

That perhaps she may grant you your request,

How many a youth she disclosed herself to and then was veiled,

كم فتى عنه أسفرت وتبدت

لكن الطرف عن سناها كليل

But the eye from beholding her beauty held back!

While she in the All shows herself in every robe

وهي في الكل تنجلي بثياب ال

كل لولا التصوير والتمثيل

Were it not for figuration and symbolization,

A sun whose rays are the souls,

شمس ذات لها النفوس شعاع

في البرايا والجسم ظل ظليل

In the wilds, while the body is a little shadow,

Everything through her indeed became a thing,

كل شيء بها لقد صار شيئاً

ولتحقيره بها تبجيل

And by deprecating it she magnified it,

She, none but she, though generations passed away,

فهي لا غيرها وإن راح جيل

قد تجلت به وأقبل جيل

Appearing through them as generations came,

The meanings are many: error

والمعاني كثيرة من ضلالٍ

وهدىً لكن الصواب قليل

And guidance, but right is little,

And that we are in, it is unaffected by

والذي نحن فيه لايعتريه النس

خ طول المدى ولا التبديل

Abrogation or change in the long course of time,

So cling, I have advised you sincerely,

فتمسك فقد نصحتك والزم

وعلى ما أقول ربي الوكيل

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