| I fear that you are steering the barque into a mirage; | |
| born within a veil, you will die within a veil. | |
| When I washed the collyrium of Razi from my eyes | |
| I saw the destinies of nations hidden in the Book. | 690 |
| Twist over field and avenue, twist over mountain and desert— | |
| the lightning that twists upon itself dies within the cloud. | |
| I dwelt a while with the Westerners, sought much and saw scarcely | |
| the man whose musical modes turn not upon number. | |
| Without the anguish of battle that propinquity is not attainable; | 695 |
| you who speak of ‘scent in rose-water, ‘, go, ravish the rose-bush! | |
| Superficial ascetic, I concede that selfhood is transient, | |
| but you do not see the whirlpool within the bubble. | |
| This delightful music comes not from the minstrel’s plucking, | |
| a houri exiled from Paradise is weeping within the lute. | 700 |