XIII: Wherefore dost thou not follow righteousness, O my…

Wherefore dost thou not follow righteousness, O my stony heart!
When thy beloved friends, one after the other, continually disappear?

O Thou! who hast bound so many loads upon thy back, and set out--
How wilt thou pass along the path in front, so narrow and confined?

Burn thyself and become ashes, if thou truly lovest the beloved:
Draw near, O suitor! learn thou from the moth true love!

Give up this world! leave it to the negligent and the remiss!
From heedlessness' dark film, make thou the mirror bright!

The garment's hem of my patron saint, I have, with both hands seized:
In the conflict with the flesh and the devil I shall conquer perhaps.

As the breath of the charmer to the afflicted, such is a sight of thee:
I will become thy sacrifice, thou anchorite at the loved-one's door!

Let both my life and goods be an oblation, O mediator! unto thee;
But the face of the beloved, so beautiful, show thou unto me!

Rivers have overflowed, and distant lands have become flooded;
But, alas! of thirst I die, at the brink of a mighty stream!

Give not away, wholly, to sorrow, O Khwajah Muhammad!
For the Perfect One will confer honour upon the servants at His gate!