English
You Are the Being of All That Is
You are the very existence of the universe: beside you, all creation is nothing at all.
On the road toward you there is no foothold; no one can trace a path beyond you.
In the sun of your essence they are all dissolved: wisdom, darkness, and shadow alike.
The heart never once reached his street until it wandered, ruined and worn, a hundred times.
It is time that spring of joy released us from the grief of winter.
The moment has come for every frozen heart to thaw in the warmth of his love.
O eternal cupbearer, you are yourself the cup, the drinking companion, and the wine.
The whole world sways and dances, drum and reed, to your sweet word.
For a lifetime a voice has kept reaching the soul's ear, again and again, from the unseen.
It says: O bankrupt, helpless, worthless one, hidden within you is that which is beyond both you and me.
A treasure whose talisman is the world; an essence whose attribute is Adam.
The world, which looks like a mirage, is but a bubble on the encircling sea of truth.
That image of a bubble on the water's surface, once its breath of air is gone, is only water again.
The world is a single letter from his book; do not imagine it is the book itself.
Behind the shapes and figures of the waves, the sea is forever veiled.
The soul-reviving face of the Beloved is hidden by the very radiance of his own light.
I know the sun's concealment comes from the sheer excess of the sun's own shining.
We are drunk and undone by the eyes of the Beloved; our intoxication is not from this wine.
This sea, from the motion it carries, is all boiling, roaring, and turmoil.
The heart rides upon it like a ship, forever tossed in its upheaval.
I have a ruined heart, and even that One lies hidden within this ruined heart.
A treasure whose talisman is the world; an essence whose attribute is Adam.
The sun rose to the summit of the sky, and the atoms of the world grew visible through it.
It cast a glow from its own light and became both soul and world, world and soul.
The king of the realms of both worlds set out with his own army.
That king came from the city of his own domain and became a world in this world.
That orphan pearl, that flawless jewel, became the source uniting the sea and the mine.
The One whose essence bore no mark became visible to us through the face of his attributes.
Though he is forever one and alone, you saw how he became one by one, each thing apart.
By his being, this and that came into existence; by his manifestation, this and that appeared.
Nothing could be more obvious than this,
nothing could be more plainly visible than this.
He wrapped himself in the garment of body and soul,
and hid within the very dress of body and soul.
A treasure whose seal is the whole world,
an essence whose attributes are humankind.
It is a treasure buried in the heart of the heart,
a pain sunk deep in the clay of the heart.
It is a beauty that has appeared
in the lovely form and features of the heart.
It is the eternal sun of the endless sky,
rising in the sign of decline, at the house of the heart.
The kingdom of existence was made prosperous
by the justice, and by the girdle, of the heart.
This mighty task turned out to be blessed
for the fortunate servant of the heart.
Like the ocean of the truth of all truths,
forever joined to the perfect sea of the heart.
My heart is now an ocean where
no one ever reaches the shore of the heart.
Since it stands clear of any image but him,
this pure, receptive mirror of the heart,
that ornament and design became visible
in the mirror set before the heart.
For a lifetime it has stayed concealed
in the breast of the soul that has reached the heart.
A treasure whose seal is the whole world,
an essence whose attributes are humankind.
You whose love is the signet ring of the soul,
you from whom life breathes into the soul,
no breath can be drawn without you,
you companion of the body and companion of the soul.
In the house of the body, in the retreat of the heart,
your arrival has been a blessing, dear soul.
The heart is so glad in your presence
that it never grieves for a moment, dear soul.
The garden of the body has not tasted
even a dewdrop from your surrounding sea, dear soul.
You, the form and meaning of both worlds,
you, the Ahmad of the spirit and the Adam of the soul,
the sovereign of the great expanse of the soul
has taken hold of the realm of the heart's core.
Suddenly a journey fell to our lot,
from the world of the body to the world of the soul.
From then on a world appeared
beyond the world, the joyous world of the soul.
In that world beyond all how and why we saw
the soul, stripped bare of its teacher's garment.
A treasure whose seal is the whole world,
an essence whose attributes are humankind.
Rise and come to the world of the soul,
free the heart for one breath from the grief of the soul.
You who have been the breath's companion for a lifetime,
yet not for one moment the companion of the soul,
you who lie dead from the cold breath of the ego,
when will you come alive by the breath of the soul?
It is a treasure laid upon jewels,
hidden by the firm seal of the soul.
Everyone who knew found the way to the treasure,
the secrets and hidden mysteries of the soul.
The sovereign of the palace of both worlds
has put on the garment of the soul's teacher.
With his own army he set out toward the world,
robed in the beautiful form of Adam, the soul of souls.
He revealed his own kingship
in the world of the body and the world of the spirit.
Your soul is the soul of every soul,
and your body is the name of the greatest life.
He is visible in the image of Jesus, the heart,
and hidden in the shape of Adam, the soul.
A treasure whose talisman is the world,
an essence whose attribute is Adam.
You, the shadow of the divine presence,
you, the substance of every kingdom's rule.
In your kingdom the humblest servant stands,
from the moon above down to the fish below.
You are a king, the world your army,
yet you have no need of any army.
No one holds the rank you hold,
even though you take no pride in rank.
The highest seat of the world is yours by right,
because you are the palace of the foremost place.
To the oneness of your essence, that sun,
every single atom bears its witness.
In neither world has anyone truly grasped
your essence as it really is.
Through you the world is bright, for you are
the sun and moon on the sky of majesty.
You, the pupil of the eye of both worlds,
you, the light of both white and black.
Hidden in your outer and inner being
lies a treasure holding all you could desire.
A treasure whose talisman is the world,
an essence whose attribute is Adam.
You, the essence of the brief and the detailed,
in you the many details are gathered into one.
Beside your sun the universe is a mote,
beside your sea the universe is a mere watering hole.
In your very being you are the Last and the Manifest,
in your knowledge you are the Hidden and the First.
The verses of heart-stealing beauty
have found their home in your honor.
You are the mirror that shows the world;
in you the whole world is reflected.
From the fortunate rising of your star
the calendar of the ages was crowned with glory.
Nothing but your form and your meaning appears
to the eye of anyone whose sight is not crossed.
Over the outer and inner of both worlds
you are appointed steward on God's behalf.
You, by whom the world's difficulties are solved,
and before whom everyone's hard riddle is undone.
He is hidden within your essence and attributes,
and then in your form he becomes a puzzle.
A treasure whose talisman is the world,
an essence whose attribute is the world.
You who are bound within body and soul,
rise up and be freed from them both.
You who have stayed away from the paradise of truths,
far off, in pursuit of an everlasting paradise.
You'll stay in hell and long for heaven, all for the sake of your own desire.
This ancient world is not worthy of you. Open the door, leave, and don't be trapped in it.
So that from being near the Beloved, a new life reaches you again each moment.
How can anyone reach the opening chapter who, in their whole life, never got past the alphabet?
Shed every mark and form for the sake of an Essence that is free of all mark and limit.
That Essence whose light is pure and simple, that light whose shadow stretches out over everything.
You who seek the true destination, if you truly intend to reach the goal,
seek guidance on this road from the one who is confirmed by God.
You will never reach that truth except through the way of Muhammad.
The path that shows you the pure essence and attributes of Ahmad.
A treasure whose talisman is the world; an Essence whose attributes are the world.
You, the eye and its light, the joy of every gaze; the finest of all, the guide of both worlds.
You are the manifestation of both essence and attributes; through you the other appears, and the very self.
A single dot stands between 'ayn' and 'ghayn'; that dot is what lies between the two.
Erase the dot of your own self, and at once the 'ghayn' becomes 'ayn.'
Though there is nothing but that dot, dressed in the garb of 'ayn' and shaped like 'ayn.'
There, where the dot of the Essence is at home, there is neither 'how' nor eye that can see it.
Upon the true source of being came the dot; the forms of being are letters, and 'ghayn' among them.
From the shapes that lie between the dot and the letter, a hundred kinds of being and a hundred selves appeared.
Lift that 'ghayn' from before the 'ayn,' then, with no doubt, no veil, no stain,
open both your eyes and see, like the one who held the secret of 'two bows' length.'
A treasure whose talisman is the world; an Essence whose attributes are Adam.
My old friend, hear a new tale from this frail man of the West.
When the sun rose, it cast its rays upon the darkness of all creation.
That shadow whose name is the world is a follower of the sun of true being.
Because the light told it: always run behind me,
don't fall away from following me for a single moment; wherever I go, you go too.
Don't be heedless of my form; be just as I am.
Since I have not a moment's rest, my shadow, you shall not rest either.
I am the king, the sovereign of the realm; you are the shadow of that king and sovereign.
If from the harvest of my being's light
you could grasp even a single grain,
you would see, in its glow and radiance,
something higher than this world, both old and new.
A treasure whose spell is the whole universe,
an essence whose attributes are humankind itself.