يا نَفسُ لَو كُنتُ تَرينَ الشُؤون

كَما يَراها سائِرُ الناسِ

O self, if you could see the affairs

O Soul, if only you saw the affairs of life

As the rest of the people see them

As all other people see them,

لَما رَماني بَعضُهُم بِالجُنون

وَلَم أَجِد في الناسِ مِن باسِ

None would accuse me of madness

Some would not have accused me of madness,

And I would not find harm in people

And I would find no misery among mankind.

بِالأَمسِ مَرَّ المَوكِبُ الأَكبَرُ

فيهِ الفَتى الراكِبُ وَالناعِلُ

Yesterday the great procession passed

Yesterday, the grand procession passed by,

In it the rider and the barefooted one

With youths both mounted and on foot,

وَأَقبَلَت غيدُ الحِمى تَخطِرُ

يَهتِفنَ عادَ البَطَلُ الباسِلُ

And the army of fever came threatening

And the maidens of the district came swaying,

Shouting the heroic conqueror has returned

Chanting, "The brave hero has returned!"

ما لَكِ يا هَذِهِ لا تَهتُفين

لِصاهِبِ الدَولَةِ وَالباسِ

What is wrong with you, why don’t you cheer

What ails you, O Soul, that you do not cheer

For the owner of power and conquest

For the possessor of state and might?

فَقُلتِ لي ضاحِكَةً تَسخَرين

وَيلَكَ هَذا قاتِلُ الناسِ

You said to me laughing and mocking

Then you spoke to me, laughing in mockery:

Woe to you, this is the killer of people

"Woe to you, this is the slayer of men."

وَمَجلِسٍ دارَت بِهِ الأَكأُسُ

فَشَرِبَ القَومُ وَلَم تَشرَبي

And a gathering where cups revolved

And at a gathering where cups went round,

The people drank but you did not drink

The people drank, yet you did not drink;

وَاِمتَلَأَت بِلطَرَبِ الأَنفُسُ

وَأَنتِ في صَمتِكِ لَم تَطرَبي

And the souls filled with rapture

And souls were filled with mirth,

While you in your silence were not raptured

While you, in your silence, felt no joy.

كَأَنَّما غَيَّبَكِ الحِندِسُ

أَو تاهَتِ اللَذاتُ في سَبسَبِ

As if absent-mindedness secluded you

As though pitch darkness had concealed you,

Or pleasures were lost in fantasy

Or pleasures had vanished into a barren waste.

ما لَكِ يا هَذِهِ لا تَضحَكين

لِلحَبَبِ الضاحِكِ في الكاسِ

What is wrong with you, why don’t you laugh

What ails you, O Soul, that you do not laugh

At the laughing loved one in the cup

At the bubbles chuckling in the cup?

قالَت نَهاني أَنَّ مَوجَ السِنين

سَيَغمُرُ الأَقداحَ وَالحاسي

She said, “It has forbidden me that the waves of years

She said: "I am forbidden, for the waves of time

Will overwhelm the cups and the senses”

Will soon submerge both the cups and the drinker."

وَسِرتِ في الرَوضَةِ شاعَ الجَمال

فيها وَشاعَ الحُبُّ بَينَ الطُيور

And I walked in the garden, beauty spread

You walked in the garden where beauty abounded,

In it and love spread among the birds

And love spread among the birds;

الطَلُّ فيها كَدُموعِ الدَلال

وَالشَوكُ فيها كَحَديثِ الغُرور

The hanging fruits in it like tears of a flirt

The dew therein was like tears of coquetry,

And its thorns like the talk of delusions

And the thorns like the whisper of vanity.

مَشَيتِ في أَرجائِها كَالخَيال

يَطوفُ في الظَلماءِ بَينَ القُبور

I walked in its corners like a specter

You wandered its corners like a ghost,

Roaming in the darkness among the graves

Roaming the darkness among the graves.

كَأَنَّما لا وَردَ في الياسَمين

كَأَنَّما لا عِطرَ في الآسِ

As if there were no roses in the jasmine

As if there were no blooms on the jasmine,

As if there were no fragrance in the myrtle

As if there were no fragrance in the myrtle.

وَيحَكِ لا في عُزلَتي تَطرَبين

وَلا إِذا كُنتُ مَعَ الناسِ

And it tells me, neither in my solitude you are raptured

Woe to you! You find no joy in my solitude,

Nor when I was with people

Nor when I am amidst the crowd.

كانَ زَمانٌ كُنتِ تَستَأنِسين

بِكُلِّ وَهمٍ خادِعٍ كَالسَراب

There was a time you found pleasure

There was a time when you found comfort

In every misleading illusion like a mirage

In every deceiving illusion, like a mirage;

حَتّى إِذا أَسفَرَ وَجهُ اليَقين

رَأَيتِهِ كَالوَهمِ شَيئاً كُذاب

Until when the face of certainty dawned

But when the face of Certainty unveiled itself,

You saw it like an illusion, something very deceptive

You saw it, like the illusion, as a lie.

دُنيا الوَرى ليلٌ وَصُبحٌ مُبين

وَلَيسَ في دُنياكِ إِلّا الضَباب

The life of creation is a night and a clear dawn

The world of men is night and clear day,

And there is nothing in your life but haze

But in your world, there is nothing but mist.

ما لاحَتِ الأَجارُ لِلناظِرين

إِلّا رَأَيتِ شَبَحَ الفاسِ

The trees did not appear to the onlookers

Trees never appeared to the beholders

Except I saw the ghost of the cups

Without you seeing the phantom of the axe,

وَلا سَمِعتِ الكاسَ ذاتِ الرَنين

إِلّا سَمِعتِ حَطمَةَ الكاسِ

Nor did I hear the ringing cup

Nor did you hear the ringing cup

Except I heard the breaking of the cup

Without hearing the shattering of the glass.

مَسَختِ في عَينَيَّ لَونَ النَهار

لَمّا لَمَحتِ اللَيلَ بِالمَرصَدِ

You changed the color of daylight in my eyes

You have distorted the color of day in my eyes,

When you glimpsed the night at the observatory

When you glimpsed the night lying in ambush,

وَماتَ في أُذُنَيَّ لَحنُ الهَزار

لَمّا سَبَقتِ الصَمتَ لِلمُنشِدِ

And the tune of jest died in my ears

And the nightingale's melody died in my ears,

When you preceded silence to the singer

When you anticipated the silence awaiting the singer.

فَرَرتِ بِلَّذّاتِ قَبلَ الفَرار

فَضاعَ يَومي حائِراً في غَدي

So pleasures escaped before escape

You fled from pleasures before they could flee,

And my day was lost, confused about tomorrow

So my Today was lost, wandering in my Tomorrow.

خالَفتِ مِقياسَ الوَرى أَجمَعين

فَكَيفَ يَرضونَ بِمِقياسي

You disagreed with the criteria of all people

You have defied the measure of all mankind,

So how can they accept my criteria

So how could they ever accept my standard?

ما بَرِحَ الناسُ كَما تَعلَمين

وَلَم أَزَل فَرداً مِنَ الناسِ

People have not changed as you know

People remain just as you know them to be,

And I have not stopped being one of the people

And I remain but one among the people.