ما تركت الكل إلا ورعا
فسقى الله زماني ورعى
I have left all but piety,
So God watered my time with piety.
قمر الغيب بدا في أفقي
يتجلى ولفرقي جمعا
The moon of the unseen rose on my horizon,
Appearing, though to my sect a stranger.
وفروضي حُرِّمت فيه كذا
سنني صارت عليه بدعا
My obligations were forbidden in it, as was
My practice, which to it was an innovation.
فإذا كنت فكوني خطأ
وهو ذنب كان مني وقعا
So if I am wrong, let me be an error,
A sin that was mine and happened.
أين من يفهم قولي ويرى
ما أرى من حق شرع شرعا
Where is one who understands my words and sees
What I see of the truth of canon law?
وامتلا الكاس ولا كاس هنا
والوِعا فاض وما ثمَّ وعا
The cup was filled, though no cup was here,
And the fodder overflowed, though there was no fodder.
والتماثيل عليها عكفت
أمة الوهم وزادت طمعا
On idols the pagans were bent,
The nation of fancy, increasing in greed.
يا رجال الغيب عيني شهدت
غيبكم كالبرق لما لمعا
O men of the unseen, my eyes have witnessed
Your absence like lightning when it flashes.
وانقضى الليل الذي أنجُمُكُم
فيه والفجر عليه طلعا
The night whose stars were you is over,
And dawn has risen above it.
وورا هذا الورى كعبتا
طاف قلبي بحماها وسعى
Beyond this abode two Holy Places
My heart circumambulated and hastened to.
ورمى جمرة نفسي في منى
قربها سبع صفات تبعا
It cast the pebbles of my soul at Mina,
Drawing near it with seven traits emulated.
لا تدع يا برق مني أثراً
أثر العين يزيد الوجعا
Leave no trace of me, O lightning,
The eye’s trace only increases the pain.
وانفض العثير يا ريح الحمى
عن سنا الوجه فداعيه دعا
Scatter, O wind of fever, the motes
From my sun-like face, for its caller has called.
عثير رحلي به قد عثرت
ولعا ما قال قلبي ولعا
Motes of my departure have made me stumble.
What passion my heart felt, and passion!
لي حبيب هو بي محتجب
وهو لا يبدو ولا أبد ومعا
I have a lover who from me is hidden,
Who appears not, nor do we appear together.
بين تنزيه وتشبيه له
حضرة حيرت المطَّلعا
Between declaring Him transcendent and likening Him,
Is a presence that bewilders the onlooker.
كلما قربني همت به
أو تدانيت إليه ارتفعا
Whenever I near Him, I am tempted
To draw closer, and He rises farther away.
