1. أَطارَ عَنّي النَومَ صَوتٌ في الدُجى

    كَأَنَّهُ دَمدَمَةُ الشَلّالِ

    A voice in the darkness drove sleep away from me,

    As though it were the rumbling of the waterfall.

  2. يَصرَخُ وَالريحُ تُرَدِّدُ الصَدى

    في أُذُنِ الفَضاءِ وَالتِلالِ

    It cries out, and the wind repeats the echo

    In the ear of space and the hills.

  3. يا لَيلُ قِف هُنَيهَةً قُبالي

    تَرَ البَرايا وَأَرَ اللَيالي

    O night, pause a moment before me,

    You will see all creatures, and I will see the nights.

  4. أَنا الشادي أَنا الباكي

    أَنا العاري أَنا الكاسي

    I am the singer; I am the weeper.

    I am the naked one; I am the clothed one.

  5. أَنا الخَمرَةُ وَالدِنُّ

    أَنا الساقِ أَنا الحاسي

    I am the wine and the wine jar.

    I am the cupbearer; I am the drinker.

  6. خَلَعتُ ثَوباً لَم تُفَضِّلُهُ يَدي

    وَهُمتُ في الوادي بِلا سِربالِ

    I cast off a garment my hand had not favored,

    And wandered in the valley without a robe.

  7. وَخِلتُني اِنطَلَقتُ مِن سَلاسِلي

    وَخَلُصَت ذاتي مِنَ الأَوحالِ

    And I thought I had broken free of my chains,

    And my being had been freed from the mire;

  8. فَلَم أَزَل أَرسُفُ أَغلالي

    وَلَم أَزَل في حِندِسِ المُحالِ

    Yet I still drag my shackles,

    And remain in the pitch-darkness of the impossible.

  9. فَما أَبكي مِنَ الغُربَةِ

    عَن جارٍ وَعَن خِدنِ

    So I do not weep over estrangement

    From a neighbor or an intimate friend;

  10. فَقَد يَرجِعُ جيراني

    وَتَبقى غُربَتي عَنّي

    For my neighbors may return,

    Yet my estrangement from myself remains.

  11. عَرَفتُ في النَهارِ كُلَّ مُقبِلٍ

    وَمُدبِرٍ وَما عَرَفتُ حالي

    By day I knew everyone approaching,

    And everyone departing, yet I did not know my own state.

  12. وَاِستَتَرَت عَنّي السُهولُ وَالرُبى

    تَحتَ الدُجى وَالبَحرُ ذو الأَهوالِ

    The plains and hills were hidden from me

    Beneath the darkness, as was the sea with its terrors;

  13. لَكِنَّما لَم تَستَتِر آمالي

    عَنّي وَلا نَقصي وَلا كَمالي

    But my hopes were not hidden

    From me, nor my imperfection, nor my perfection,

  14. وَلا ضَعفي وَلا عَزمي

    وَلا قُبحي وَلا حُسني

    Nor my weakness, nor my resolve,

    Nor my ugliness, nor my beauty.

  15. فَكَم أَهرُبُ مِن نَفسي

    وَما لي مَهرَبٌ مِنّي

    How often I flee from myself,

    Yet there is no escape for me from myself.

  16. فَقُلتُ مَن هَذا فَقالَ صَحبي

    مُوَسوَسٌ يَهذي مِنَ الخُبالِ

    So I asked, “Who is this?” My companions replied:

    “A man tormented by obsessions, raving in his madness.

  17. يَأوي إِلى الأَدغالِ في نَهارِهِ

    كَأَنَّهُ جُزءٌ مِنَ الأَدغالِ

    He shelters in the thickets by day,

    As though he were part of the thickets.

  18. وَفي الدُجى لَهُ صُراخٌ عالِ

    كَأَنَّهُ وَاللَيلُ في نِضالِ

    And in the darkness his cries are loud,

    As though he and the night were in combat.

  19. كَأَنَّ اللَيلَ يوثِقُهُ

    بِأَغلالٍ وَأَمراسِ

    As though the night were binding him

    With shackles and ropes,

  20. وَيَضرُبُ جِسمُهُ العاري

    بِسَوطِ الظالِمِ القاسي

    And striking his naked body

    With the whip of the cruel oppressor.

  21. ما أَن رَآهُ أَحَدٌ إِلّا رَآهُ

    شاخِصَ الطَرفِ إِلى الأَعالي

    No one ever saw him without seeing him

    With his gaze fixed upon the heights,

  22. كَأَنَّما يَرقَبُ رَكباً صاعِداً

    أَو هابِطاً وَلَيسَ غَيرُ الآلِ

    As though he were watching a caravan ascending

    Or descending, though there is nothing but a mirage.

  23. كَأَنَما يَخشى عَلى الهِلالِ

    وَسائِرِ الشُهبِ مِنَ الزَوالِ

    As though he feared for the crescent moon

    And all the bright stars, lest they vanish.”

  24. فَصاحَ الصَوتُ ما أَرجوهُ

    في نَفسي وَما أَحذَرُ

    Then the voice cried: “What I hope for

    Is within myself, and so is what I fear.

  25. فَمَهما رَحِبَ الأُفقُ

    فَنَفسِيَ الأُفقُ الأَكبَرُ

    However wide the horizon may be,

    My soul is the greater horizon.

  26. لَيسَ جَلالُ اللَيلِ ما أَدهَشَني

    وَإِنَّما أَدهَشَني جَلالي

    It is not the night's grandeur that astonished me,

    But my own grandeur that astonished me.

  27. وَلا جَمالُ الشُهبِ ما حَيَّرَني

    وَإِنَّما حَيَّرَني جَمالي

    Nor is it the beauty of the bright stars that bewildered me,

    But my own beauty that bewildered me.

  28. إِن كانَ بي شَوقٌ إِلى وِصالِ

    فَإِنَّما شَوقي إِلى خَيالي

    If I feel a longing for union,

    Then my longing is only for my own image.

  29. تَوَشَّحتُ الضُحى وَاللَيلَ

    في أُنسي وَفي حُزني

    I draped myself in morning light and night,

    In my joy and in my sorrow.

  30. فَما زادَ الدُجى خَوفي

    وَلا زادَ الضُهى أَمني

    The darkness did not increase my fear,

    Nor did morning light increase my safety.

  31. لَأَهجُرِ الناسَ فَأَصنافُ الوَرى

    مِنَ السَلاطينِ إِلى المَوالي

    Let me forsake people, for all sorts of humankind,

    From sultans to retainers,

  32. إِلى ذَوي العِلمِ إِلى أَهلِ الغِنى

    مِن واصِلٍ وَهاجِرٍ وَسالِ

    To the learned, to the wealthy,

    From those who keep ties, those who forsake, and those who forget,

  33. وَحاضِرٍ وَسابِقٍ وَتالِ

    في قَبضَتي اليُمنى بِلا جِدالِ

    And those present, those gone before, and those who follow,

    Are in my right fist, beyond dispute.

  34. تَلاقى الأَحمَقُ الجاهِلُ

    وَالعالِمُ في كَفّي

    The ignorant fool has come together

    With the scholar in my palm,

  35. وَمَن كانَ لَهُ إِلفٌ

    وَمَن كانَ بِلا إِلفِ

    And whoever had a companion,

    And whoever had no companion.

  36. وَفي يَدي الشِمالُ أَشكالُ المُنى

    وَصُوَرُ اليَقينِ وَالضَلالِ

    And in my left hand are the shapes of wishes,

    And the images of certainty and delusion,

  37. وَكُلُّ ما لِعاقِلٍ أَو جاهِلٍ

    مِن لَذَّةٍ أَو أَلَمٍ قَتّالِ

    And all that a wise or ignorant person has

    Of pleasure or deadly pain,

  38. وَسائِرُ الأُمورِ وَالأَحوالِ

    وَكُلُّ شَيءٍ قالَ شَخصٌ ذا لي

    And all affairs and circumstances,

    And everything of which someone said, ‘This is mine.’”

  39. وَكانَ اللَيلُ قَد أَزمَعَ

    أَن يَحدو مَطاياهُ

    And the night had resolved

    To urge its mounts onward with song.

  40. فَسادَ الصَمتُ في الوادي

    كَأنَّ المَوتَ يَغشاهُ

    Then silence reigned in the valley,

    As though death were enveloping it.

  41. فَسِرتُ وَالفَجرُ دَليلي باحِثاً

    في الغابِ وَالسُفوحِ وَالتِلالِ

    So I walked, with dawn as my guide, searching

    Through the woods, the slopes, and the hills.

  42. فَلَم أَجِد غَيرَ صَريعٍ هامِدٍ

    مُنطَرِحٍ في جانِبِ الشَلّالِ

    But I found only a fallen, lifeless man,

    Sprawled beside the waterfall.

  43. لا شَيءَ في قَبضَتِهِ الشِمالِ

    وَلَيسَ في اليُمنى سِوى صَلصالِ

    Nothing was in his left fist,

    And in his right was nothing but dry clay.