لمائه كلنا أواني — Abd Al Ghani Al Nabulsi

لمائه كلُّنا أواني

ونحن في نفسه معاني

For His water, we are all vessels,

and we are meanings within His own self.

والكل عن أمره ظلال

وذاته الشمس في البيان

And all are shadows arising from His command,

and His essence is the sun in this account.

مراتب بالوجود صارت

حقائق الغيب والعيان

Ranks, through Being, became

realities of the unseen and the visible;

عن كل أوصافه أبانت

عند الورى مثل ترجمان

they disclosed all His attributes

among humankind, like an interpreter.

وجوده لا يزال منها

يطلى بنيل وزعفران

His existence never ceases, through them,

to be painted with indigo and saffron,

وبظلام وبضياء

وبضراب وبطعان

and with darkness and with light,

and with blows and with thrusts,

وبجماد وبنبات

وبأناس وحيوان

and with inanimate matter and with plants,

and with people and animals,

وبرجال وبنساء

وأهل شيب وعنفوان

and with men and with women,

and those of gray hair and youthful vigor,

وكل عقل وكل حسن

والمتمنين والأماني

and every intellect and every beauty,

and the wishers and the wishes,

وكل فهم وكل وهم

وكل وقت وكل آن

and every understanding and every illusion,

and every time and every moment,

وملكوت وجبروت

وكل إنس وكل جان

and the spiritual realm and the realm of might,

and every human and every jinn,

وكل ساق وكل كاس

وكل خمر وكل حان

and every cupbearer and every cup,

and every wine and every tavern,

وبحسانٍ وبقباحٍ

وبهموم وبتهاني

and with the beautiful and with the ugly,

and with worries and with congratulations,

وكل شيء صرفت عنه

ولم يصرّح به لساني

and every thing I have turned away from,

and of which my tongue has not spoken plainly.

توهُّمات الجميع فيه

من فرط عز ورفع شان

Everyone's imaginings concerning Him—

through His surpassing might and lofty rank—

يجل عنها وعن مقالي

يجل فيما به سباني

He transcends them and my words;

He is exalted in that with which He captivated me.

والعلم بالجهل قد تساوى

عجزهما عنه في قران

And knowledge has become equal to ignorance;

their incapacity regarding Him is joined as one.

وكل عبد بما لديه

في محنة منه وافتتان

And every servant, with what he possesses,

is in tribulation and temptation from Him.

وقد تجلى بكل شيء

والشيء من عالم الكيان

And He has revealed Himself through everything,

and each thing belongs to the world of being.

فَضَاءَ منه فَضَاءُ كُلٍّ

كالنور في صبغة القناني

Thus the expanse of each shone from Him,

like light in the tint of bottles.

وفيه كانت فصار فيها

والقلب ينبيك عن بيان

And they were in Him, so He came to be in them;

and the heart tells you plainly.

وليس غير الوجود فيها

بقائم والجميع فاني

And nothing but Being within them

subsists, while all are perishing.

وهو على ما عليه قدماً

بلا انتقال ولا اختزان

And He is as He has always been,

without movement or being stored away,

ولا اتصال ولا انفصال

ولا افتراق ولا اقتران

nor connection nor separation,

nor parting nor joining,

ولا التفات ولا جهات

ولا زمان ولا مكان

nor turning nor directions,

nor time nor place,

ولا حلول ولا اتحاد

ولا تناء ولا تداني

nor indwelling nor union,

nor remoteness nor nearness.

فإن تكن فاهماً وإلا

فدع كلامي لمن يداني

So, if you understand—otherwise,

leave my words to one who draws near.

ولا تعب ما جهلت منه

بقلبك القاصر الجبان

And do not fault what you have not understood of it,

with your deficient, cowardly heart.

وخل ما قلته لقوم

يطرب أسماعهم أذاني

And leave what I have said to a people

whose ears my call to prayer delights.

فإن داعي الكمال مني

يسمع من شاء بامتنان

For the herald of perfection from me

makes whomever he wills hear, by grace.

وكل شيء للحق شان

والحق باد في كل شان

And every thing is an affair of the Real;

and the Real is manifest in every affair.

مسك له الكل طيب عرف

معنى له الكل كالمباني

He is musk; all things are His sweet scent;

a meaning, with all things like His verbal forms.

نحن التقادير منه فيه

كالكيف والكمِّ والمكان

We are the determinations, from Him and in Him,

like quality, quantity, and place.

وهو الوجود القديم صرفاً

وما له في الوجود ثاني

And He is pure, eternal Being,

and He has no second in existence.

رآه موسى الكليم ناراً

عنه بدا الكل كالدخان

Moses, the one God spoke to, saw Him as fire;

from Him all things appeared like smoke.

ورام منه بأن يراه

فجاءه عنه لن تراني

And he asked of Him that he might see Him,

so from Him came to him: 'You shall not see Me.'

لكونه رائياً فلو لم

يرى رآه إليه داني

because he was a seer; for had he not

seen, he would have seen Him near to him.

لكن علا شوقه عليه

منه عدا مالك العنان

But his yearning overcame him;

the holder of the reins ran from him,

وزاد حتى أزال عنه

تثبُّتاً كان في الجنان

and it grew until it took from him

the steadiness that had been in his heart.

ومنه قد صار في ذهول

وفي اندهاش لما يعاني

And through it he fell into bewilderment,

and amazement at what he was enduring.

والشوق يوهي العقول جدّاً

في رؤية الأوجه الحسان

And yearning greatly weakens minds

at the sight of beautiful faces,

حتى إذا دك منه طور

و عاد بالصعق في اكتمان

until, when the Mount was crushed by Him,

and he returned, swooning, into concealment,

أفاق مستغفراً منيباً

مسبِّحاً طالب الأمان

he awoke, seeking forgiveness and turning back in repentance,

glorifying Him and seeking safety.

ما قال إني رأيت أو ما

رأيت إذ كان في عيان

He did not say, 'I saw,' or 'I did not

see,' for he was in direct vision.

كان محباً له فأضحى

محبوبه الرائق الدنان

He was a lover of Him, then became

His beloved, with limpid wine-jars.

وما عليه اختفى تبدى

له جهاراً بلا تواني

And what had been hidden from him appeared

to him openly, without delay.

وصار يبديه كل شيء

قد كان أخفاه باجتنان

And everything came to reveal Him

that had once hidden Him in concealment.

وللمثاني آيات حق

تظهر في نغمة المثاني

And the oft-repeated verses have signs of truth

that appear in the melody of the paired strings.

يذوقها كل ذي فؤاد

بنيل قرب الإله عاني

Everyone possessed of a heart tastes them,

who is intent on gaining nearness to God.

سماؤه بالغرام شقت

وورده صار كالدهان

His sky was rent by ardent love,

and his rose became like oil.

يموت بالفكر ثم يحيى

بالذكر في القلب واللسان

He dies through reflection, then lives

through remembrance in heart and tongue.

ويستريب الجهول منه

والله يلقيه في امتحان

And the ignorant man is suspicious of him,

and God casts him into a trial.

ولا تراه يعيش إلا

في فرط ذل وفي هوان

And you do not see him living except

in utmost abasement and humiliation.

وإن يمت فالجزاء نارٌ

لأنه للضلال جاني

And if he dies, the recompense is fire,

because he is a perpetrator of misguidance.

وبافتراء وباعتداء

أنكر حقاً وبامتهان

And with slander and aggression,

he denied truth, with contempt as well.

ولا يضيعُ الإلهُ شيئاً

فكيف إيذاء ذي العيان

And God lets nothing go to waste;

so what of harming one endowed with direct vision?