Sol 5.6

  1. O my companion, when people vanish from me,

    then the Reality of the Real reveals itself from me.

  2. The people vanished; through my manifestation they hid themselves within.

    From You comes to me a state that confounds my expectation.

  3. You spoke to me in the letters of my own essence,

    and through me You answered the speech—to Yourself, on my behalf.

  4. Indeed, I am in Your hands: You do with me whatever

    You willed from eternity, whether my ease or my toil.

  5. And I am the temporal being who, through self-disclosure

    from You, appears—and through harsh withdrawal disappears.

  6. The divine Names ordained me from You in pre-eternity;

    after Your knowledge encompassed me, You gave me my measure.

  7. At times You turn away from my love,

    then at another time sustain me with longing.

  8. Thus You show me Your turning toward me as care

    for me; and at times an art comes to me from You—and is my art.

  9. We are all nonbeing, while You are Being;

    of You—by the Real—we never cease to speak in allusions.

  10. You are Reality, and we are falsehood: this

    has come to us in confirmation of the singer’s saying:

  11. Everything other than God, my Lord,

    is vain; and the truth is that You are I.

  12. Through me You spoke whenever I speak; and all that I have

    said of wine and in describing a great wine jar,

  13. a youth, a garden, and a full-figured beauty,

    a graceful turn, a sway, and a sinuous bending—

  14. it is my utterance, for it is my likeness;

    and it is passing, while the light of Your Face suffices.

Sol 5.6