1. مهجةٌ ناظراك قد فَتَناها

    وبها أفرطَ الجوى فتناهى

    Your two eyes have bewitched a heart;

    And within it love's anguish has exceeded all bounds and reached its height.

  2. كلما قلت آه من فرط شوقي

    لك قال المقال منيَ آها

    Whenever I said, 'Ah!' from my excessive longing

    For you, my own words cried, 'Ah!'

  3. يا بديع الجمال بالعشق منا

    قد شغلت القلوب والأفواها

    O you of wondrous beauty, through our love

    You have occupied hearts and mouths.

  4. كل عين تراك من كل شيء

    فترى نفسها وأنت تراها

    Every eye beholds you through every thing,

    And so sees itself, while you see it.

  5. والعمى عنك وصفها كشهود

    لك فالوصف داؤها ودواها

    And blindness to you is its attribute, as is beholding

    You; that attribute is its sickness and its cure.

  6. هيه حادي المطي من نفس صب

    قد تحفَّت أقدامها بوناها

    Ho, camel-driver!—from a lovesick lover's soul,

    Whose feet have been worn bare through its weariness.

  7. وسرى الركب وهي في أخريات

    خوفها الإنقطاع عنهم براها

    And the caravan traveled by night, while it was at the rear;

    Its fear of being cut off from them wore it away.

  8. كلما جدت المسير أعيقت

    بأسارى أبصارهم أعماها

    Whenever it pressed on with the journey, it was hindered

    By captives whose eyes were the blindest of all.

  9. إن توخت إيمانها أنكروها

    وإلى العقل يرجعون قواها

    If it sought its faith, they rejected it,

    And they attribute its faculties to reason.

  10. عصبة أذهبوا الزمان التباساً

    من دواعي نفوسهم واشتباها

    A band who squandered time in confusion,

    From the impulses of their souls, and in uncertainty.

  11. ربطتهم بقيدها شهوات

    فهم الهالكون مالاً وجاها

    Desires bound them with their fetter;

    So they are ruined in wealth and rank.

  12. يحسبون الضلال بالنفس رشداً

    والتعامي يرونه الإنتباها

    They take straying through the self for right guidance,

    And regard willful blindness as awakening.

  13. وبذات المليح ذات مليح

    كلما شئت كلمتني شفاها

    And in the lovely one's essence is a lovely one's essence;

    Whenever I wished, it spoke to me face-to-face.

  14. خيلت غيرها لقومٍ ضعافٍ

    ما اتقوها بها فظنوا سواها

    It made something other than itself appear to feeble people;

    They did not guard against it through itself, so they imagined something other than it.

  15. وهي تدنو لهم بهم فيفرّو

    ن وهيهات يعرفون الإلها

    And it draws near to them through themselves, so they flee—

    And how far they are from knowing God!

  16. وسواها منها كرؤية وجه

    من بعيد عمراً إذ الحس تاها

    And what is other than it is from it, like seeing a face

    From afar as Amr, when perception has gone astray.

  17. واحد وهو في الظهور كثير

    يتجلى لنا فلا يتناهى

    He is one, yet many in manifestation;

    He manifests himself to us, never reaching an end.

  18. صدر الكل عنه فهو لهذا

    عين كل والكل لي عنه فاها

    Everything issued forth from him; for this reason he is

    The very essence of each thing, and all spoke to me of him.

  19. يا ابن قومي خذ القضية عني

    إن تكن مغرماً بها أواها

    O son of my people, take the matter from me,

    If you are enamored of it, full of sighs.

  20. واطرح القشر عن كلامي وكل من

    لبه واشرب الجميع مياها

    And cast the husk away from my speech, and eat from

    Its kernel, and drink the whole as water.

  21. والتفت تنظر الوجود سراباً

    لا شراباً فاحذر به تتباهى

    And turn your gaze: you will see existence as a mirage,

    Not a drink—so beware of boasting of it.

  22. واجتنب عنه لا ترى أمثالاً

    فيه قد خيلت ولا أشباها

    And keep away from it; see no likenesses

    That have been imagined within it, nor any counterparts.

  23. واقتنع منه بالذي هو سر

    فيه لا فيه لا تكن تياها

    And be content with that of it which is a secret

    In it, yet not in it; do not wander astray.