1. يا نفسُ مالك والانين

    تتألَّمين وتُؤلمين

    O soul, why this moaning?

    You suffer and cause pain.

  2. عذَّبتِ قلبي بالحَنين

    وكَتَمتِهِ ما تقصُدين

    You have tormented my heart with longing,

    And hidden from it what you intend.

  3. قد نامَ أربابُ الغرام

    وتَدَثَّروا لُحفَ السَّلام

    The devotees of love have fallen asleep,

    And wrapped themselves in quilts of peace.

  4. وأبيتِ يا نفسُ المَنام

    أفأنتِ وحدَكِ تشعُرين

    Yet you, O soul, have refused sleep.

    Do you alone, then, feel?

  5. الليلُ مرَّ على سواك

    أفما دهاهم ما دَهاك

    Night has passed over others besides you;

    Has what befell you not befallen them?

  6. فلم التمرُّدُ والعِراك

    ما سُورُ جسمي بالمَتين

    Why, then, this rebellion and strife?

    My body's wall is not strong.

  7. أطلقتِ نَوحَك للظلام

    إيَّاكِ يَسمَعكِ الأنام

    You let loose your lament into the darkness.

    Beware lest humankind hear you,

  8. فيَظُنَّ زَفرَتك النِّيام

    بوقَ النُشورِ ليوم دِين

    And the sleepers mistake your sigh

    For the resurrection trumpet on Judgment Day.

  9. يا نفس ما لك في اضطِراب

    كفريسةٍ بين الذئاب

    O soul, why are you in turmoil,

    Like prey among wolves?

  10. هلا رجَعتِ إلىالصواب

    وبدلتِ رَيبَكِ باليقين

    Why not return to sound judgment,

    And exchange your doubt for certainty?

  11. أحمامةٌ بين الرياح

    قد ساقها القدرُ المُتاح

    Are you a dove amid the winds,

    Driven onward by allotted fate,

  12. فابتلَّ بالمطر الجَناح

    يا نفسُ ما لكِ ترجُفين

    Its wing grown wet with rain?

    O soul, why are you trembling?

  13. أوَما لحُزنِكِ من بَراح

    حتى ولو أزِفَ الصَّباح

    And is there no respite from your grief,

    Even if morning draws near?

  14. يا ليت سرِّك لي مُباح

    فأعي صَدى ما قد تَعِين

    Oh, if only your secret were open to me,

    So I might grasp the echo of what you behold.

  15. أسَبَتكِ أرواحُ القَتام

    فأرَتكِ ما خلفَ اللِّثام

    Have the spirits of the dark haze taken you captive,

    And shown you what lies behind the veil,

  16. فطمِعتِ في ما لا يرام

    يا نفسُ كم ذا تَطمَحين

    So you coveted what cannot be attained?

    O soul, how high you aspire!

  17. أصعِدتِ في رَكبِ النُّزوع

    حتى وصلتِ إلى الرُّبوع

    Did you ascend in the caravan of yearning,

    Until you reached the abodes,

  18. فأتاكِ أمرٌ بالرُّجوع

    أعلى هُبوطكِ تأسَفين

    Then receive a command to return?

    Do you grieve over your descent?

  19. أم شاقَك الذِّكرُ القديم

    ذكرُ الحِمى قبلَ السَديم

    Or did the old memory stir your longing,

    The memory of the sanctuary before the nebula,

  20. فوقَفتِ في سِجن الأدِيم

    نحو الحِمى تتلفَّتين

    So you stood in the prison of the flesh,

    Looking back toward the sanctuary?

  21. أَأَضعتِ فِكراً في الفَضاء

    فتبعته فوقَ الهَواء

    Did you lose a thought in space,

    Then follow it above the air,

  22. فنأى وغلغلَ في العَلاء

    فرَجَعتِ ثَكلى تَندُبين

    Then it drew far away and penetrated the heights,

    So you returned bereaved, lamenting?

  23. أسلكتِ في قُطر الخَيال

    دَرباً يقودُ إلى المُحال

    Did you take, in the realm of imagination,

    A path that leads to the impossible,

  24. فحطَطتِ رَحلكِ عند آل

    يَمتصُّ رِيَّ الصادرين

    Then set down your pack beside a mirage

    That sucks the refreshment from those leaving the water,

  25. فنسيتِ قصدك والطِّلاب

    ووقَفتِ يذهِلُك السَّراب

    So you forgot your purpose and your quest,

    And stood bewildered by the mirage,

  26. وهرَقتِ فضلاتِ الوِطاب

    طمعاً بماءٍ تأمُلِين

    And spilled what remained in the waterskins,

    Coveting water you hoped for,

  27. حتى إذا اشتدَّ الأوام

    والآلُ أسفر عن رُكام

    Until, when thirst grew fierce,

    And the mirage cleared to reveal a heap of rubble,

  28. غيَّبتِ رأسك كالنَّعام

    في رمل قلبي تَحفرين

    You hid your head like an ostrich,

    Burrowing in the sand of my heart?

  29. أعشِقتِ مثلَكِ في السماء

    اختاً تَحِنُّ الى اللقاء

    Did you love your counterpart in heaven,

    A sister yearning for reunion,

  30. فجلَستِ في سجنِ الرَّجاء

    نحوَ الأعالي تَنظُرِين

    So you sat in the prison of hope,

    Gazing toward the heights?

  31. لوحتِ باليد والرِّداء

    لتَراكِ لكن لا رَجاء

    You waved your hand and cloak,

    So she might see you, but there was no hope.

  32. لم تدرِ أنك في كِساء

    قد حِيك من ماءٍ وطِين

    She did not know you were in a garment

    Already woven of water and clay.

  33. أَتحولُ دونكما حَياه

    لو كان يبلوها الإله

    Does life stand between you two?

    If God were to experience it,

  34. لبكى على بشَرٍ بَراه

    رَحماً يُصارعُها الجنِين

    He would weep for the human he fashioned—

    A womb against which the unborn child struggles.

  35. يا نفسُ أنت لك الخُلود

    ومَصِيرُ جسمي للحود

    O soul, yours is immortality,

    And my body is destined for the graves.

  36. سَيَعيثُ عينَك فيه دود

    فدعى له ما تَنخرِين

    Worms will ravage your eye within it;

    So leave them what you are gnawing away.

  37. يا نفس هل لك في الفِصال

    فالجسمُ أعياه الوِصال

    O soul, would you consent to separation?

    For union has exhausted the body.

  38. حمَّلتِه ثقلَ الجِبال

    ورَذَلتِه لا تَحفِلِين

    You burdened it with the weight of mountains,

    And despised it, without a care.

  39. عطشٌ وجوعٌ واشتياق

    اسفٌ وحزنٌ واحتراق

    Thirst, hunger, and longing;

    Regret, grief, and burning.

  40. يا ويحَ عيشي هل تُطاق

    نَزَعاتُ نَفسٍ لا تِلِين

    Alas for my life! Can one endure

    The urges of a soul that will not yield?

  41. والقلبُ وا أسفي عليه

    كالطِفلِ يَبسط لي يَدَيه

    And the heart—alas, my sorrow for it!—

    Like a child, it holds out both hands to me.

  42. هلا مدَدتِ يداً اليه

    كالأمَّهاتِ إلى البنين

    Why not reach out a hand to it,

    As mothers do toward their sons?

  43. غذَّيته مُرَّ الفِطام

    وحرمته ذَوقَ الغَرام

    You fed it the bitterness of weaning,

    And denied it the taste of love,

  44. وصنعتِ شيخاً من غُلام

    يَحبو على بابِ السِّنِين

    And made an old man out of a boy,

    Crawling at the doorway of the years.

  45. فَغَدا كَحَفَّار القُبور

    يَئِدُ العَواطفَ في الصُّدور

    So it became like a gravedigger,

    Burying emotions alive within breasts,

  46. ويَبيتُ يَهتِفُ بالثُّبور

    يَشكو اليك وَتشمتِين

    And spending nights crying out for doom.

    It complains to you, and you gloat.

  47. أعمى تُطاعِنه الشُّجون

    وجراحهُ صارت عُيون

    Blind, pierced by sorrows,

    And its wounds have become eyes,

  48. وبها يرى سُبلَ المَنُون

    فيسير سَيرَ الظافرين

    And through them it sees the paths of death,

    So it walks with the stride of victors,

  49. حتى اذا اقتربَ المُراد

    تُطلى رُؤاه بالسَّواد

    Until, when the goal draws near,

    Its visions are painted black,

  50. ويعود مكفوفاً يُقاد

    برَنين عُكَّازِ الحَنين

    And it returns blind, led

    By the ringing of longing's cane.

  51. يتلمَّسُ النورَ البعيد

    بأناملِ الفِكر الشريد

    It gropes for the distant light,

    With the fingertips of wandering thought,

  52. ويسيلُ من فَمِه النَشيد

    سَيلَ الدِماء من الطَعِين

    And song pours from its mouth,

    As blood streams from one who has been stabbed.

  53. أرأيتَ بيتَ العَنكَبوت

    وذُبابةً فيه تَموت

    Have you seen the spider's house,

    And a fly dying within it,

  54. رقَصت على نغَمِ السُكوت

    ألَماً فلم يُغنِ الطَنِين

    Dancing to the melody of silence,

    In pain, but its buzzing did no good?

  55. فكذاك في شرَكِ الرَجاء

    قلبي يلذُّ له الغِناء

    So, too, in the snare of hope,

    My heart finds delight in singing.

  56. ما ذاكَ شَدواً بل رثاء

    يبكي به الأمَلُ الدَفين

    That is no song, but a lament,

    Through which buried hope weeps.

  57. يا نفسُ إن حُمَّ القَضا

    ورَجَعتِ أنت إلى السما

    O soul, if fate is decreed,

    And you yourself return to heaven,

  58. وعلى قميصك من دِما

    قلبي فماذا تصنعين

    And on your shirt is some of the blood

    Of my heart—what will you do?

  59. ضحَّيتِ قلبي للوُصول

    وهرَعت تبغين المثُول

    You sacrificed my heart to arrive,

    And hurried, seeking an audience.

  60. فاذا دُعيتِ الى الدُخول

    فبأيِّ عينٍ تَدخُلين

    Then, when you are summoned to enter,

    With what eyes, then, will you enter?