Molla-Panah Vaqif
My Kaaba, Karbala, my Mecca, Medina, my own!

My Kaaba, Karbala, my Mecca, Medina, my own!
Trie earth that you tread is a sanctuary, love's sacred place,
I worship, adore you. I call you my holy Black Stone.
When I bow down before you, towards you I first turn my face.

Do not take to heart any maladroit words I may say.
My mind is confusion, inebriate, fuddled and fey.
If you are not near, if you bear your slim body away,
It seems that the world is confounded in time and in space.

My faith, my beliefs, my whole life to your braids I have bound.
No love like my love for your curls in the world could be found.
Departing I wreathe in your hair my emotions profound,
So keep them secure as a pledge till my path I retrace.

O my sky, O my sun, 0 you full moon of mine!
You're my treasure, my glory, my soul's light divine!
Your great beauty my heart shall forever enshrine.
Every word about you leaves a honey-sweet taste. :

The drake's iridescence is dulled when you come.
The cockatoo hearing your voice is struck dumb.
Vagif has been wounded, his heart is now numb.
He claims that his pain has been caused by your grace.

Translated by Tom Botting

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