English
Sending a Message to the Beloved
Once again, driven by that burning you know well,
in all my helplessness and weakness,
I went in private to that wise one,
and once more began to tell my story.
I threw myself at his feet in humility,
and said to him, out of my restlessness:
What would it cost you to comfort a wretch,
to set right, with a little kindness, a poor man's affair?
Be generous, take the hand of one who has fallen;
by your mercy, make a free man your servant.
Set a helpless heart free from grief;
heal the sorrow inside one who aches.
If from this door some help should come to me,
by the grace of a caring soul like you,
Then take flight, my hunting falcon;
make your move and perhaps bring her into the snare.
Tell her: your bewildered one says this,
the one who has become a prisoner of your love and your absence.
What is lost from a king's realm
if a beggar comes upon a treasure?
Let Majnun's heart find its wish in Layla,
let Alexander drink his cup from the water of life.
Let poor Farhad at last reach Shirin,
let the fairy-faced one show her face to Golshad.
Let Jacob open his eyes upon Joseph,
let beloved Vis appear to Ramin.
Let Vameq's soul be revived by Azra;
no grief then, and his joy knows no bounds.
Let Aurang sit happy beside Golchehr,
a flower in one hand, a rose-red cup in the other.
In just this way, let this poor Obayd too,
his heart a stranger, be made a friend of love.
Let him come to know a companion like you,
and find his light in your union.
Fortune has favored you, your luck is bright;
it has never held you in longing from dusk till dawn.
How would you know the tale of my sickness,
my eating my own heart, my sleepless nights?
If some grief should ever seize your skirt,
if love should wrap itself around your heart,
Then you would understand the state of the poor,
and read the book of their affliction.
You too live by a hope of your own;
what harm if you fulfilled our hope?