By her, I departed to her (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
by Umar Ibn al-FaridEnglish version by Th. Emil Homerin
Original Language Arabic
By her, I departed to her
from me, never to return;
one like me never speaks
of coming back.
Kindly I secluded my soul
away from my departure;
never again did I allow it
to be my companion.
Then I was made to disappear
from where my soul stood apart,
that no attribute could appear
to crowd me in my presence,
And I was made to witness
my absence when she appeared,
so I found me, her there,
in the bridal chamber of my seclusion.
In my witnessing, my existence
was cast off, and I was far
from the existence of my witnessing,
effacing, not transfixing.
I embraced what I witnessed
by bearing witness to it
in the effacement of my witness,
now sober after my drunkenness.
In the sobriety after effacement,
I was none other than her,
my essence adorned my essence
when she removed her veil.
 | -- from Umar Ibn al-Farid: Sufi Verses, Saintly Life, Translated by Th. Emil Homerin |
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