Translation:
Alif before double lam
and Ha-the delight of the eye
Alif proclaims the name
with two lams without body
and Ha is the sign of the writing
“Secret” is spelled with two letters.
There is a name with no place.
Read these letters together.
You will see by them, the heart is satisfied
and forgets its past trials
and advances, flanked on both sides
by two delicate mysteries
My passionate love became public
Dawn appeared after my night
and I became a light for existence
a sun between two moons:
I know not where I am
My most pious love means
to be annihilated in Him as a slave
and truly, in annihilation, I vanish
for the finding is between two losings
and life is in two deaths
My darling, the one I passionately love
my spirit’s sustenance when I die
Fearing separation I sing:
When, o apple of my eye,
Will I find union without place?
Translation from L.M. Alvares. Abu al-Ḥasan al-Shushtari: Songs of Love and Devotion. p. 90
