Why weepest thou thus to-day again, O my heart? (ode IX)

Why weepest thou thus to-day again, O my heart?

Thou sighest and complainest ever, O my heart!

Like as the hart that loseth her fawn is distracted,

So thou showest thy alarm and inquietude, O my heart!

See also, thou acquirest not patience by exhortation:

Wailing and lamenting, thou rendest thy garment, O my heart!

Like as the Hindi widow advanceth impatiently to the pyre,

So thou turnest thy back to sweet existence, O my heart!

I do not comprehend all these complainings of thine:

What makest thee so soft and so sensitive, O my heart?

From the pangs of grief thou shalt then be again released,

When thou sacrificest thine own affections, O my heart!

Thou shalt take thy recreation in the court of the beloved,

If thou wilt resign thine own will and pleasure, O my heart!

The heart-ravishers are pert and capricious, and deceiving withal;

Then how long wilt thou sigh and weep for them, O my heart?

In the world the roses of spring are manifold in number,

If, like the nightingale, thou lamentest for them, O my heart!

The murky night will become unto thee the sunny day,

When, like the moth, thou sacrificest thyself, O my heart!

The rose-bud of desire thou shalt make to bloom thereby,

If thou make truth the rain-clouds of thy spring, O my heart!

The long night of autumn shall never be tardy in passing,

If thou on this path takest sincerity with thee, O my heart!

Thou shalt ever be gladdened with the sight of thy beloved,

When the dark mind thou the bright dawn makest, O my heart!

Ahmad Shah, O world! remembereth no other prayer--

In beholding the dear one's face, employ me, O my heart!