يا جَنَّةً قَبلَما حَلَّت بِها قَدَمي

أَحبَبتُها قِصَّةً وَاِشتَقتُ راويها

Oh paradise, before my foot ever tread upon it,

I loved it as a story, and yearned for its narrator.

كانَت لَها صورَةٌ في النَفسِ حائِرَةٌ

مِثلُ القَصيدَةِ لَم تُنسَج قَوافيها

It held a bewildered image within my soul,

Like a poem whose rhymes had not yet been woven.

وَدَدتُ لَو أَنَّها تَمَّت فَيُبصِرُها

غَيري وَتُسكِرُهُ مِثلي مَعانيها

I wished it were complete, so that others might see it,

And be intoxicated, like me, by its meanings.

وَكَيفَ تَكمُلُ في ذِهني وَلَم أَرَها

وَما لِصورَتِها شَيءٌ يُحاكيها

But how could it be complete in my mind when I had not seen it,

And nothing exists that resembles its image?

وَأَيُّما نَغمَةٍ أَدّى عُذوبَتَا كَلامُ

راوٍ وَلا شادٍ يُغَنّيها

And what melody is there—whose sweetness speech conveyed—

With no narrator nor chanter to sing it?

أَأَنشُقُ العِطرَ لَم أَهبِط خَمائِلَها

وَأَشرَبُ السِحرَ لَم أَسمَع قَماريها

Do I inhale the perfume though I have not descended into its thickets,

And drink in the magic though I have not heard its turtledoves?

وَتَصعَدُ النَفسُ مِنِّيَ لِلسَماءِ وَلا

حِبالُ نورٍ تَدَلَّت مِن دَراريها

And my soul ascends to the sky, though no

Ropes of light have dangled from its shining stars.

كانَت سَعادَةُ نَفسي في تَصَوُّرِها

وَالنَفسُ يُسعِدُها وَهمٌ وَيُشقيها

My soul's happiness lay in imagining it,

For the soul is made happy by illusion, and made miserable by it too.

بِالوَهمِتوجَدُ دُنيا لا وُجودَ لَها

وَتَنطَوي عَنكَ دُنيا أَنتَ رائيها

Through illusion, a world is created that has no existence,

While a world you actually see folds away from you.

فَكَم ظَمِئتُ وَفي روحي جَداوِلُها

وَكَم رُويتُ وَغَيري في سَواقيها

How often I thirsted while its streams were in my spirit,

And how often I was quenched while others were by its rivulets.

قَد كُنتُ مِن قَبلُ مِثلَ الناسِ كُلِّهِمِ

أَقولُ إِنَّ إِلَهَ الكَونِ باريها

Before this, I was like all other people,

Saying that the God of the universe is its Creator.

حَتّى نَظَرتُ إِلَيها في جَلالَتِها

فَصارَ كُلُّ يَقيني أَنَّهُ فيها

Until I gazed upon it in its majesty,

Then all my certainty became that He is within it.

لَمّا رَأَيتُ الجَمالَ الحَقَّ أَدرَكَني

زُهدٌ بِكُلِّ جَمالٍ كانَ تَمويها

When I saw true beauty, I was overtaken by

An ascetic renunciation of all beauty that was merely counterfeit.

كَأَنَّما الهورُ مَرَّت في شَواطِإِها

في لَيلَةٍ طِفلَةٍ رَقَّت حَواشيها

As if the Houris passed along its shores

On a tender, youthful night whose edges were soft,

فَفي الرِمالِ سَناءٌ مِن تَضاحُكِها

وَفي المِياهِ أَريجٌ مِن أَغانيها

Leaving a brilliance in the sands from their laughter,

And a fragrance in the waters from their songs.

أَتَيتُها بِشَبابٍ ضاعَ أَكثَرُهُ

وَغَيَّبَتهُ اللَيالي في مَطاويها

I came to it with a youth mostly lost,

Hidden away by the nights in their folds.

فَاِستَرجَعَ الحُبَّ قَلبي فَهوَ مُغتَبِطٌ

وَعادَتِ الروحُ خَضراءَ أَمانيها

So my heart reclaimed love and is now jubilant,

And the spirit returned, its aspirations green again.

سُؤِلتُ ما راقَ نَفسي مِن مَحاسِنِها

فَقُلتُ لِلناسِ باديها وَخافيها

I was asked what pleased my soul among its charms,

I told the people: both the visible and the hidden.

وَما حَبَبتُ مِنَ الأَشجارِ قُلتُ لَهُم

إِنّي اِفتَتَنتُ بِكاسيها وَعاريها

And asked what I loved of the trees, I told them:

I was enchanted by the leafy ones and the bare ones alike.

وَما هَوَيتُ مِنَ الأَزهارِ قُلتُ لَهُم

الحُبُّ عِندي لِناميها وَذاويها

And asked what I adored of the flowers, I told them:

My love is for the blooming and the withering alike.

قالوا وَما تَتَمَنّى قُلتُ مُبتَدِراً

يا لَيتَني طائِرٌ أَو زَهرَةٌ فيها

They said, "And what do you wish for?" I said instantly,

"Oh, if only I were a bird or a flower within it."

فَرُبَّ أُنشودَةٍ مِن بُلبُلٍ غَرِدٍ

حَوَت حِكايَةَ حُبٍّ خُفتُ أَحكيها

For perhaps a song from a warbling nightingale

Might contain a love story I feared to tell.

وَرُبَّ روحٍ كَروحي في بَنَفسَجَةٍ

وَسنى أَطَلَّت عَلى روحي تُناجيها

And perhaps a soul like mine lies within a violet,

Drowsy, looking out upon my soul to converse with it.

وَرُبَّ قَطرَةِ ماءٍ لا غِناءَ بِها

شاهَدتُ مَصرَعَ دُنيا في تَلاشيها

And perhaps a drop of water, of no apparent worth,

In its vanishing, I witnessed the death of a world.

كُلُّ الَّذي لاحَ لي في أَرضِها حَسَنٌ

وَأَحسَنُ الكُلِّ في عَيني أَهاليها

Everything that appeared to me in its land is beautiful,

But the most beautiful of all in my eyes are its people.

إِلّا ذَوُّ السِحَنِ السَوداءِ واعَجَباً

أَجَنَّةٌ وَذُبابٌ في نَواحيها

Except for those of gloomy countenances—how strange!

Can it be paradise, with flies in its corners?

إِنّي لَيَكبُتُ روحي أَن أُلاحِظَهُم

بِمُقلَةٍ أَبصَرَت فيها غَوانيها

It stifles my spirit to even notice them,

With an eye that has beheld its beautiful maidens.

دَعِ المَساوِئَ في الدُنيا فَما بَرَحَت

فيها مَحاسِنُ تُنسينا مَساويها

Leave aside the evils in the world, for there remain

Virtues within it that make us forget its vices.

كَم حاوَلَ اللَيلُ أَن يَطوي كَواكِبَهُ

فَكانَ يَنشُرُها مِن حَيثُ يَطويها

How often the night tried to fold away its stars,

But it would spread them out from where it folded them.

وَاِذكُر أَكارِمَ قَومٍ طابَ عُنصُرُهُم

وَأَشبَهوا بِسَجاياهُم أَقاحيها

And remember noble people whose origin is pure,

Who resembled, in their nature, its daisies.

بَني بِلادي وَفيكُم مِن خَمائِلِها

جَمالُها وَالتَسامي مِن رَوابيها

Children of my land, in you is something of its thickets:

Its beauty, and the loftiness of its hills.

تَسَلَّتِ النَفسُ عَن أَحبابِها بِكُم

لَولاكُمُ لَم يَكُن شَيءٌ يُسَلّيها

My soul found solace from its loved ones through you;

Were it not for you, nothing could have consoled it.

أَكرَمتُموني فَشُكراً غَيرَ مُنقَطِعٍ

دَوامُ شُكرِكِ لِلنَعماءِ يُبقيها

You honored me, so I offer unending thanks,

For the perpetuity of gratitude for blessings preserves them.