رُبَّ لَيلٍ نُجومُهُ ضاحِكاتٌ

مِثلَ أَحلامِ غادَةٍ في صِباها

Many a night with laughing stars

Many a night whose stars are laughing,

Like the dreams of a maiden in her youth

Like the dreams of a maiden in her youth.

لَمَسَت إِصبَعُ السَكينَةِ أَشوا

قي فَهَبَّت مَذعورَةٌ مِن كَراها

The finger of tranquility touched my inner anguish

The finger of tranquility touched my longings,

So it fled in fright from its abhorrence

So they started up, terrified, from their slumber,

كَتُيورٍ في الأَسرِ تَبغي اِنعِتاقاً

قَبلَ أَن يُفسِدَ الإِسارُ لُغاها

Like a caged bird seeking liberation

Like birds in captivity seeking liberation,

Before captivity could corrupt its warbling

Before imprisonment corrupts their song.

أَبِقَ النَومُ فَاِنطَلَقتُ إِلى انَهرِ

بِنَفسٍ كادَت تَسيلُ دِماها

Sleep evaded me, so I went to the river

Sleep fled, so I set forth toward the river,

With a soul almost pouring out its blood

With a soul that nearly bled away.

وَمَعي صاحِبٌ رَقيقُ الحَواشي

تَجِدُ النَفسُ في رُؤاهُ رُؤاها

And with me a delicate companion

Beside me, a companion of gentle nature,

Whose vision the soul finds in its own vision

In whose visions my own soul finds its reflection.

إِن دَجَت لَيلَةٌ أَراكَ ضُحاها

أَو ذَوَت زَهرَةٌ أَراكَ شَذاها

If a night darkens I see you illuminate it

If a night grows dark, he shows me its morning light;

Or a flower withers I see you give it fragrance

If a flower withers, he shows me its fragrance.

قالَ ما أَجمَلَ الكَواكِبَ ما

أَحلى سَناها فَقُلتُ ما أَحلاها

He said, "How beautiful are the stars, how...

He said, “How beautiful are the planets!”

...sweet is their brilliance!" So I replied, "How sweet indeed."

قالَ لا شَوقَ لا صَبابَةَ لَولا

ها فَتَمتَمتُ قائِلاً لَولاها

I said, “How sweet is their radiance!”

He said, "There would be no longing, no ardor, were it not..."

He said, “Without longing or infatuation...”

...for them." But I murmured, saying, "Were it not for her."

قالَ هَل تَشتَهي الوُصولَ إِلَيها

قُلتُ إِنّي لا أَشتَهي إِلّاها

So I murmured, “Without her...”

He asked, "Do you desire to reach them?"

He said, “Do you wish to reach them?”

I replied, "I desire nothing but her."

كانَ طَرفي يَجولُ في العالَمِ الأَع

لى وَروحي تَجولُ في مَغناها

I said, “I wish nothing but her.”

My gaze was roaming through the celestial realm,

My eyes roamed the lofty universe

While my soul wandered within her abode.

وَجَليسي يَظُنُّ في الشُهبِ قَصدي

وَأَنا أَحسَبُ الجَليسَ عَناها

And my soul roamed in its melody

My companion thought my intent lay with the stars,

And my companion thought I eyed the stars

While I assumed he was speaking of her.

قالَ وَالنَهرُ كَم طَوى مِن صَبابا

تٍ فَأَطرَقتُ أَستَشِفُّ المِياها

While I deemed him oblivious of her

He said, "And the river—how many yearnings has it concealed?"

He said, “How many passions has the river seen flow?”

I bowed my head, gazing deep into the waters.

فَإِذا النَهرُ فيهِ رَعشَةُ روحي

حينَ يَدوي فيها صَدى ذِكراها

I bowed my head to probe its waters

And there in the river was the trembling of my soul,

And there I saw the shiver of my soul

As the echo of her memory resounded within.

قالَ وَاللَيلُ قُلتُ حَسبُكَ إِعنا

تٌ لِنَفسي وَحَسبُ نَفسي دُجاها

Whenever the echo of her mention rippled in it

He began, "And the night..." I interrupted, "Enough torment...

He said, “The night...” I said, “You have helped

...for my soul; my own inner darkness suffices me."

فَاِنقَطَعنا عَنِ الكَلامِ وَبِتنا

كُلُّ نَفسٍ لِذاتِها نَجواها

My soul find solace, and my soul sufficed with its darkness.”

So we ceased our speech and spent the night,

So we fell silent, each soul plunged

Each soul communing secretly with itself.

خِلتُ أَنّي إِذا بَعِدتُ سَأَنسا

ها وَيَطوي الزَمانُ سِفرَ هَواها

In its own whispered longings.

I imagined that if I distanced myself, I would forget her,

I felt that when far from her I'd forget her

And that time would close the book of her love;

وَتَوَهَّمتُ أَنَّني سَوفَ أَلقى

أَلفَ لَيلى وَطَلفَ هِندٍ سِواها

And time would fold away the days of passion.

I deluded myself that I would encounter

I imagined I would find a thousand Lailas, a thousand Hinds apart from her.

A thousand Laylas and a thousand Hinds beside her.

فَإِذا الحُبُّ كَالفَضاءِ وَقَلبي

طائِرٌ في الفَضاءِ ضَلَّ وَتاها

But love is like space, and my heart a bird

But lo, love is like the vast cosmos, and my heart

Lost in space, astray without her.

Is a bird within that void, lost and wandering.

أَنا في عالَمٍ قَصِيٍّ سَحيقٍ

لا أَراها لَكِنَّ روحي تَراها

I'm in a distant, desolate world--

I exist in a realm remote and abysmal;

I cannot see her, but my soul sees her.

I do not see her, yet my soul perceives her.

قَد نَشَقتُ الأَزهارَ في كُلِّ أَرضٍ

ي شَذاهُنَّ لَستَ مِثلَ شَذاها

I have inhaled the scent of flowers in every land.

I have inhaled the scent of flowers in every land,

Their fragrance is not like her fragrance.

Yet their fragrance is nothing like hers.

كَيفَ أَنسى وَأَينَما سِرتُ في الدُن

يا أَراني أَسيرُ في دُنياها

How to forget, when wherever I wander in the world

How can I forget, when wherever I roam in this world,

I find myself a captive in her world?

I find myself walking within her world?

وَإِذا ما لَمَحتُ في الأَرضِ حُسناً

فَكَأَنّي لَمَحتُها إِيّاها

And when I glimpse a beauty on earth

If I glimpse beauty anywhere on earth,

It's as if I glimpsed her—her alone.

It is as though I have glimpsed her very self.

وَإِذا داعَبَ النَسيمُ رِدائِيَ

قُلتُ قَد عَلَّمَتهُ هَذا يَداها

And when the breeze plays with my cloak

And if the breeze plays with my cloak,

I say, “She has taught it this gesture of hands.”

I say, "It was her hands that taught it this."

هِيَ أَدنى مِنَ الأَماني إِلى قَل

بي وَقَلبي يَصيحُ ما أَقصاها

She is nearer than longing to my heart

She is closer to my heart than my own hopes,

And my heart cries out, “How remote she still is!”

Yet my heart cries out, "How far away she is!"

لَستُ أَشكو النَوى مَلالاً وَلَكِن

طَرَبُ الروحِ أَن تُذيعَ جَواها

I do not complain of the torment of exile

I do not complain of separation out of weariness,

But the soul's turmoil at being unable to unburden itself.

But the soul finds rapture in proclaiming its ardor.

قالَ قَومٌ إِنَّ المَحَبَّةَ إِثمٌ

وَيحَ بَعضِ النُفوسِ ما أَغباها

He said, “Some say love is sin.”

Some claim that love is a sin;

Pity the souls who are so ignorant!

Woe to such souls—how foolish they are!

إِنَّ نَفساً لَم يُشرِقِ الحُبُّ فيها

هِيَ نَفسٌ لَم تَدرِ ما مَعناها

A soul that love has never illuminated

For a soul in which love has not dawned

Is a soul that knows not what love means.

Is a soul that knows not its own meaning.

خَوَّفوني جَهَنَّماً وَلَظاها

أَيُّ شَيءٍ جَهَنَّمٌ وَلَظاها

They frightened me with hell and damnation.

They tried to frighten me with Hell and its blaze;

What is hell and damnation?

But what, really, are Hell and its blaze?

لَيسَ عِندَ الإِلَهِ نارٌ لِذي حُبٍّ

وَنارُ الإِنسانِ لا أَخشاها

For one who loves, God has no fire.

God holds no fire for the one who loves,

And the only fire I fear is my own.

And as for the fire of man, I fear it not.

أَنا بِالحُبِّ قَد وَصَلتُ إِلى نَفسي

وَبِالحُبِّ قَد عَرَفتُ اللَهَ

Through love I have reached myself

Through love, I have arrived at my own self,

And through love I have come to know God.

And through love, I have come to know God.