1. إن كان بعض الشعر غير سديد

    خذ من حديث النفس كل مفيد

    If some poetry is not sound,

    take from the soul's discourse all that is useful.

  2. فالنفس سر لم ينل إدراكه

    مسترشد إلا بفك قيود

    For the soul is a mystery whose understanding is not attained

    by any seeker of guidance except through undoing bonds.

  3. فكأنه يعلو على متن الريا

    ح بنفحة مقرونة بخلود

    So it is as though he rises upon the back of the winds,

    with a breath coupled with immortality.

  4. حبجته عن عين البصير كثافة

    من عنصر الاعراض ذات سدود

    A density veiled it from the discerning eye,

    formed from the substance of accidental properties, full of barriers.

  5. من للبيب بأن يبدد ما يطو

    ف حواله من عامل التشريد

    Who can help the wise man dispel what circles

    around him as a source of distraction?

  6. فيغض طرفا عن مناظر عالم

    يلهو به اللاهون بالتقليد

    So he turns his gaze from the sights of a world

    where the idle amuse themselves through imitation,

  7. ويصد سمعا عن حديث مطامع

    ومظالم وخيالة وحقود

    and turns his hearing from talk of covetous desires,

    and injustices, conceit, and grudges.

  8. فيرى تفاهات الحياة ولهوها

    كابوس سكران بخمر قرود

    He sees life's trivialities and amusements

    as the nightmare of a drunk on monkeys' wine.

  9. تنكشف الدنيا له عن صورة

    معبودها طمع بغير حدود

    The world reveals itself to him in a form

    whose idol is greed without bounds.

  10. ويرى أتم هداية في خلوة

    مع نفسه توليه كل سعود

    And he sees the fullest guidance in solitude

    with his soul, which grants him every good fortune.

  11. لا ينتهي حتى يناجي نفسه بسعادة

    بمواقف ليست من المعهود

    He does not cease until he communes with his soul in happiness,

    in states outside the familiar,

  12. حتى يناجي نفسه بسعادة

    فوق التي قد حازها بصعنود

    until he communes with his soul in happiness

    beyond what he had attained through [unclear: صعنود].

  13. وكأنما النفس النفيسة عريت

    فصفت صفاء الجوهر المنقود

    And it is as though the precious soul were stripped bare,

    and grew clear with the clarity of an assayed jewel.

  14. فرأى بألفتها عجائب لم تدر

    في وهمه كحقيقة المشهود

    So, through intimacy with it, he saw wonders that had never passed

    through his imagination, as real as things witnessed.

  15. وأصاب لذات أتت عن صفوة ال

    أفكار من كدر ومن تعقيد

    And he attained pleasures born of the purity of

    thoughts, free of murkiness and complication.

  16. وكأن الفته لها ماء غدا

    متمازجا مسكية العنقود

    And it was as though his intimacy with it were water that had become

    mingled with the musky fragrance of the grape cluster.

  17. لا لذة في الكون تحكيها وإن

    لم تقترن أفعالها بشهود

    No pleasure in the universe can match it, even if

    its workings have not been accompanied by witnesses.

  18. بل لو بدا ريب له بوجودها

    فالريب يدقع حجة التفنيد

    Rather, if doubt arose in him about its existence,

    then that doubt would rebut the case for refutation.

  19. هل تستوي عند القضاء شهادة ال

    محسوس مثل شهادة المجحود

    In judgment, is the testimony of the

    perceptible equal to the testimony of what is denied?

  20. فكأنها نجم بأقصى شعرة

    ناداك مضطربا بقول مجيد

    So it is as though it were a star at the farthest tip of a hair,

    that called to you, trembling, with noble words:

  21. إن أنت لم تنكر بجد أنني

    في الكون موجودا عدمت وجودي

    If you do not earnestly deny that I

    exist in the universe, you lose my existence.

  22. ولكم عظائم لم تكن لو لم أكن

    حدثت عنها النفس في مجهودي

    And how many great things would not have been, had I not

    told the soul about them in my striving!