الرُوح ما الرُوح إِلّا طائر غَرَد

لَهُ جَناحان مِن نور وَظَلماء

The soul, what is the soul but a bird that sang

With two wings, one of light and one of darkness

كَطائر الرَوض إِلّا أَنَّه أَبَداً

يَشدو هُنالك شَدو الحائر النائي

Like a bird of the garden, except that forever

It sings there the song of the bewildered wanderer

يَظَل يَهبط مِن دوح لمؤتلق

وَقَد يُغادر خَضراء لِخَضراء

It continues alighting from grove to grove

And it may leave a green one for a green one

لا العَقل يَهتك ما أَخفاه مِن حجب

وَعَين كُل بَصير جد عَمياء

Neither reason unveils what it has hidden of veils

And the eye of every seer is quite blind

اللَه وَالرُوح كَم نَسعى وَراءَهُما

وَنَستَعين بِأَموات وَأَحياء

God and the soul, how much we quest for them

And seek help from the dead and the living

هُما الخَفيان في نُور وَفي غَسَق

تَرفَعا عَن إِشارات وَإِيماء

They are the hidden ones in light and in dusk

Rising above gestures and hints

سران ما نَقب الإِنسان دونَهُما

إِلذا تَوَغل في شَك وَإِعياء

Two mysteries that man has not probed beyond them

Unless he penetrated into doubt and exhaustion

الوَيل لِلعَقل هَذا مشكل جَلل

فَكَيفَ يَنظُر في عَجز وَإِبطاء

Woe to this reason, a momentous riddle

How can it look with incapacity and tardiness

لُهُ الثُبور وَماذا عافَهُ فَمَضى

يَقلب الطَرف في ذُعر وَرَعناء

It has misfortunes and what did it gain, so it passed

Turning the glance in panic and foolishness

لَو يَنزل العَقل قَبل الرُوح في جَسَد

لَم يَلبَث الرُوح سراً بَينَ أَحشاء

If reason descended before the soul into a body

The soul would not have tarried a secret among the entrails

تَكشفت رُسل الآراء عَن شيع

شَتى وَعَن فرق كَثر وَآراء

The messengers of opinions were revealed about factions

Diverse, and about sects, many and opinions

فَلَيتَ شعري وَالإِنسان مُنصَرم

أَفي الخُلود نَصيب لِلوريقاء

I wonder, and man is transient

Is there a share of immortality for the flimsy

يا أَيُّها الرُوح كَم تدنو بِمَقرُبة

وَأَنتَ أَبعَد مَن يوح وَعَلواء

O soul, how you come near with a censer

While you are farther than revelation or the most high

جَرى وَراءك سُقراط فَما علقت

كَفاهُ منكَ بِشَيء وَاِبن سِيناء

Socrates went after you, but you did not provide him

With anything, and the son of Sinai

لَأَنت صَعب عَلى الأُلى نَزَلوا

مِن ظَهر آدم أَوجاؤوا بِحَواء

You are difficult for those who came down

From the back of Adam or came with Eve