I heard a distant voice at dawn,
calling from a place unseen: Indolent people!
Hasten to fill your cup of hope,
before the hand of destiny pours it full.
Trouble not your mind with the past,
nor with the future precipitous¬ly.
Seize for yourself this day’s delights,
for there is no knowing what sunset may bring.
This day is mine! There may be no morrow!
The future is naught but deception.
How could I be so ignorant as to behold
the beauty of this world and not embrace it?
A yearning for love has touched my heart,
and inexpressible words form on my lips.
O lord, are you pleased with my thirst
‘though water to sate it meanders by me.
My heart wants to pound,
to be seared in the flame of love.
A shame to its name is the day
When I am not consumed by passion.
Throw open your eyes! The dawn calls out
“forsake sleep and let music sound”.
Remember! Sleep will not lengthen your life,
nor revelry lessen your years on earth.
How many nights have followed days,
and how long the cycle of the stars!
Go then gently upon this earth
with its host of bewitching eyes.
Let fear not trouble your thoughts,
throw yourself into the world as you find it.
For tomorrow we will all be equal in the earth,
as was ever the case, since time began.
Cool the furnace of your heart with sweet saliva,
for days pass by like clouds on the breeze.
Our life is a chimera, so rush headlong into it
before your youth passes you by.
I came into this world, a mystery why,
and am cloaked from life’s arcana.
One day I shall unravel this cloak,
and still not know life’s why and whither.
You, whose power clouds my understanding,
My obedient soul seeks your protection!
My sin inebriated me, but now
let my plea for mercy cleanse me.
Obedience was ever my remote neighbour,
but I henceforth my desire is for your mercy.
Forgive me, for throughout my life,
I have remembered there is no God beside You.
Man cannot fathom your magnificence,
yet of your design is everything in existence.
You are its glory, and in your signs
lies the mastery of creation.
A drop of water leaves the sea
only to re-join it one day as rain.
Lord, let the distance between us
be reduced by that one drop.
You who know secrets with certainty.
You who remove the burdens of those in despair.
You who accept our pleas! Let us return to your shade.
Accept the remorse of the penitent.
This is, I hope, an attempt at an elegant translation of Ahmad Rami's wonderful Arabic translation of the original Persian.