Ode XL

O my soul, who is this, stationed in the house of the heart?
Who may occupy the royal seat save the King and the Prince?
He beckoned with his hand: ‘Say, what do you desire of me?’
What does a drunken man desire except sweetmeats and a cup of wine?
Sweetmeats derived from the soul, a cup of the Absolute Light,
An eternal banquet laid in the privacy of “He is the Truth”.
How many deceivers are there at the wine-drinkers’ feast!
Take heed lest thou fall, O easy simple man!
Beware! do not keep, in a circle of reprobates,
Thine eye shut like a bud, thy mouth open like the rose.
The world resembles a mirror: thy Love is the perfect image;
O people, who has ever seen a part greater than the whole?
Go on foot, like the grass, because in this garden
The Beloved, like the rose, is riding, all the rest are on foot.
He is both the sword and the swordsman, both the slain and the slayer,
He is at once all Reason and brings Reason to nought.
That King is Salahu’ddin — may he endure for ever,
May his bounteous hand perpetually be a necklace on my neck!