1. (My goal is) the corniced palace of Baghdád, not the corniced palace of Sindád, 1
2. The city set like a crown above the gardens, as though she were a bride who has been unveiled in the most fragrant chamber.
3. The wind plays with the branches and they are bent, and ’tis as though the twain had plighted troth with one another.
4. Meseems, Tigris is the string of pearls on her neck, and her spouse is our lord, the Imám who guides aright,
5. He who gives victory and is made victorious, the best of Caliphs, who in war does not mount on horseback.
6. God bless him! as long as a ringdove perched on a swaying bough shall moan for him,
7. And likewise as long as the lightnings shall flash of
smiling mouths, for joy of which morning-showers flowed from mine eyes,
8. The mouths of virgins like the sun when the mists have withdrawn and when it shines forth clearly with most luminous radiance.
1. 'The corniced palace of Baghdád,' i.e. the presence of the Quṭb.
'The corniced palace of Sindád,' i.e. the kingdom of this world.
3. 'The wind plays with the branches,' i.e. the aspirations attach themselves to the Divine Self-subsistence, which inclines towards them.
4. 'Tigris,' i.e. the station of life.
'The Imám,' i.e. the Quṭb.
5. 'Who in war,' etc., i.e. he has quitted the body and taken his stand on the spiritual essence by which he is related to God.
6. 'A ringdove,' etc., i.e. the soul confined in the body.
7. 'As long as the lightnings,' etc., referring to the glories of Divine contemplation.
1. O breeze of the wind, bear to the gazelles of Najd this message: 'I am faithful to the covenant which ye know.'
2. And say to the young girl of the tribe, 'Our trysting-place is at the guarded pasture beside the hills of Najd on the Sabbath morn,
3. On the red hill towards the cairns and on the right hand of the rivulets and the solitary landmark.'
4. And if her words be true and she feel the same tormenting desire for me as I feel
5. For her, then we shall meet covertly in the heat of noon at her tent with the most inviolable troth,
6. And she and I will communicate what we suffer of love and sore tribulation and grievous pain.
7. Is this a vague dream or glad tidings revealed in sleep or the speech of an hour in whose speech was my happy fortune?
8. Perchance he who brought the objects of desire (into my heart) will bring them face to face with me, and their gardens will bestow on me the gathered roses.
1. 'O breeze of the wind,' i.e. the subtle spiritual sense which gnostics use as a medium of communication.
'The gazelles of Najd,' i.e. the exalted spirits.
2. 'The young girl of the tribe,' i.e. the spirit especially akin to himself.
3. 'The red hill,' i.e. the station of beauty, since red is the fairest of all the colours.
'The solitary landmark,' i.e. the Divine singleness, which is inferior to oneness.
5. 'In the heat of noon,' i.e. in the station of equilibrium.
7. 'Is this a vague dream?' (cf. Kor. xii, 44), i.e. this union is impossible, for my spirit cannot escape from the corporeal world.
1. Oh, is there any way to the damsels bright and fair? And is there anyone who will show me their traces?
2. And can I halt at night beside the tents of the curving sand? And can I rest at noon in the shade of the arák trees?
3. The tongue of inward feeling spoke, informing me that she says, 'Wish for that which is attainable.'
4. My love for thee is whole, O thou end of my hopes, and because of that love my heart is sick.
5. Thou art exalted, a full moon rising over the heart, a moon that never sets after it hath risen.
6. May I be thy ransom, O thou who art glorious in beauty and pride! for thou hast no equal amongst the fair.
7. Thy gardens are wet with dew and thy roses are blooming,
and thy beauty is passionately loved: it is welcome to all.
8. Thy flowers are smiling and thy boughs are fresh: wherever they bend, the winds bend towards them.
9. Thy grace is tempting and thy look piercing: armed with it the knight, affliction, rushes upon me.
1. 'The damsels bright and fair,' i.e. the knowledge derived from the manifestations of His Beautiful Name.
2. 'The tents of the curving sand,' i.e. the stations of Divine favour.
'The shade of the arák trees,' i.e. contemplation of the pure and holy Presence.
3. This station is gained only by striving and sincere application, not by wishing. 'Travel that thou mayst attain'.
5. 'A moon that never sets,' etc.: he points out that God never manifests Himself to anything and then becomes veiled from it afterwards.
7. 'Thy gardens are wet with dew,' i.e. all Thy creatures are replenished by the Divine qualities which are revealed to them.
'Thy roses are blooming,' in reference to a particular manifestation which destroys every blameworthy quality.
'It is welcome,' i.e. it is loved for its essence.
8. 'Thy flowers,' etc., i.e. Thy knowledge is welcome to the heart.
'Thy boughs,' i.e. the spiritual influences which convey Thy knowledge.
1. Ṭayba hath a gazelle from whose witching eye (glances like) the edge of a keen blade are drawn,
2. And at ‘Arafát I perceived what she desired and I was not patient,
3. And on the night of Jam‘ we had union with her, such as is mentioned in the proverb.
4. The girl's oath is false: do not confide in that which betrays.
5. The wish I gained at Miná, would that it might continue to the last hour of my life!
6. In La‘la‘ I was transported with love for her who displays to thee the splendour of the bright moon.
7. She shot Ráma and inclined to dalliance at aṣ-Ṣabá and removed the interdiction at al-Ḥájir.
8. And she watched a lightning-gleam over Báriq with a glance swifter than a thought that passes in the mind.
9. And the waters of al-Ghaḍá were diminished by a blazing fire which passion kindled within his ribs.
10. And she appeared at the bán tree of an-Naqá and chose (for her adornment) the choicest of its superb hidden pearls.
11. And at Dhát al-Aḍá she turned backward in dread of the lurking lion.
12. At Dhú Salam she surrendered my life-blood to her murderous languishing glance.
13. She stood on guard at the guarded pasture and bent at the sand-bend, swayed by her all-cancelling decisive resolution.
14. And at ‘Álij she managed her affair (in such a way) that she might escape from the claw of the bird.
15. Her Khawarnaq rends the sky and towers beyond the vision of the observer.
1. 'Ṭayba (Medina) hath a gazelle,' referring to a Muḥammadan degree, i.e. a spiritual presence belonging to the station of Muḥammad.
3. 'On the night of Jam‘': he says, 'we abode in the station of proximity and He concentrated me upon myself'.
'In the proverb,' namely, 'He did not salute until he bade farewell', i.e. they parted as soon as they met.
4. He says, 'Put no trust in an Attribute that is not self-subsistent and depends on One who may not always accomplish its desires.'
7. 'She shot Ráma,' i.e. she shot that which she was seeking, because she regarded the thing as being the opposite of what it was and of what she believed it to be.
'And inclined to dalliance at aṣ-Ṣabá,' i.e. she desired to manifest herself.
8. 'A lightning-gleam,' i.e. a locus of manifestation for the Essence.
10. 'And chose,' etc., i.e. she revealed herself in the most lovely shape.
11. 'Dhát al-Aḍá,' i.e. the place of illumination.
'She turned backward,' etc., i.e. she returned to her natural world for fear that that fierce light should consume her.
12. Gnostics are annihilated by their vision of the Truth, but this does not happen to the vulgar, because they lack knowledge of themselves.
13. 'The guarded pasture,' i.e. the station of Divine glory.
'Bent,' i.e. inclined with Divine mercy. This refers to her investing herself with Divine qualities.
14. 'That she might escape,' etc., i.e. she was unwilling to receive from the spirits, for she wished to receive only from God, by intuitive feeling, not by cognition. God sometimes bestows His gifts by the mediation of the exalted spirits, and sometimes immediately.
15. 'Her Khawarnaq,' i.e. the seat of her kingdom.
1. Approach the dwelling of dear ones who have taken covenants—may clouds of incessant rain pour upon it!—
2. And breathe the scent of the wind over against their land, in desire that the (sweet) airs may tell thee where they are.
3. I know that they encamped at the bán tree of Iḍam, where the ‘arár plants grow and the shíḥ and the katam.
1. 'Dear ones,' i.e. the exalted spirits.
'Covenants,' i.e. the Divine covenants taken from the spirits of the prophets.
'Clouds of incessant rain,' i.e. knowledge descending upon them continuously.
2. 'And breathe,' etc., referring to the Tradition, 'I feel the breath of the Merciful from the quarter of Yemen.'
3. 'I know.' The author says that [Ar.] is here used with the meaning of [Ar.].
'At the bán tree of Iḍam,' i.e. the station of Absolute purity at the end of the journey to God.
'The ‘arár plants,' etc., i.e. sweet spiritual influences proceeding from lovely spiritual beings.
1. O bán tree of the valley, on the bank of the river of Baghdád!
2. A mournful dove that cooed on a swaying bough filled me with grief for thee.
3. His plaintive song reminds me of the plaintive song of the lady of the chamber.
4. Whenever she tunes her triple chords, thou must forget the brother of al-Hádí.
5. And if she lavishes her melody, who is Anjasha the camel-driver?
6. I swear by Dhu ’l-Khaḍimát and then by Sindád
7. That I am passionately in love with Salmá, who dwells at Ajyád.
8. No; I am mistaken: she dwells in the black clot of blood in the membrane of my liver.
9. Beauty is confounded by her, and odours of musk and saffron are scattered abroad.
1. 'O bán tree,' etc., i.e. the tree of light in the station of the Quṭb.
2. 'A mournful dove,' i.e. an exalted spirit.
'On a swaying bough,' i.e. the human organism in the station of self-subsistence.
3. 'The lady of the chamber,' i.e. every reality that exercises dominion in its own world.
4. 'Her triple chords,' i.e. the body, with its three dimensions, viz. length, breadth, and depth. 'Triple chords' may also refer to the grades of the three Names, which are the abode of the two Imáms and the Quṭb.
'Al-Hádí,' the ‘Abbásid Caliph. His brother was a fine musician.
5. 'Anjasha,' a camel-driver contemporary with the Prophet. He used to chant so sweetly that the camels died. (See Nawawí, ed. by Wüstenfeld, 164.)
7. 'Salmá' (a woman's name), i.e. a Solomonic station.
'Ajyád' (plural of jíd, neck), a place at Mecca. Here it refers to the throat through which the breath passes.
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