Juz Qais aur koi na aaya ba-ru-e-kaar

No one but Qais stepped forth to bear the pain; The desert's vastness was a jealous chain.

My frenzy etched the heart's essential stain; The scar's whole worth was smoke, a fleeting train.

In dreams, my thought had dealings with your reign; But waking found no loss, and found no gain.

I learn my lessons in the school of pain; That what has passed will never come again.

My shroud concealed my naked body's stain; In every guise, I wore existence's pain.

Without his axe, the hewer could not gain His death, Asad, bound by custom's chain.

The world, a board where Being spread its reign; My fabric, like the dawn's, was rent in twain.

The seer's delight is to be fooled again; The clamor rose from what was real and vain.

The world's a spell, a silent, vast domain; Or I, in lands of speech, was heard in vain.

Was lack my guide, or Being's endless chain? My journey's fate was born of jealous pain.

You gather silks of greed, a worldly train; I was the goods of wonder, loss, and gain.

The sky revolved its circle of deep pain; A dark eye's glance became my crushing chain.

My love did ask about my heart's deep pain, But who had strength to suffer to explain?

The sun, Asad, would not my dew contain, Or I, from head to foot, was prayer made plain.