O gardener, autumn has come, autumn has come.
See the signs of the heart’s sorrow on the leaves and branches.
O gardener, listen carefully. Hear the cries of the trees.
There are hundreds of souls, hundreds of souls
wailing silently everywhere.
Eyes don’t tear without a cause.
Lips don’t become dry without a reason.
No one’s face becomes pale like saffron without suffering like saffron.
In short, the raven of grief has landed in the garden, asking,
“Where, where is the rose garden?”
*****
The rose garden has fallen into deprivation, just like Adam.
It cries and wails, saying, “Don’t abandon the hope
of the One who offers all kindness and favors. Don’t give up.”
All the trees are in mourning, all dressed in black.
They don’t have any leaves left.
They have nothing left.
They are crying, yelling because of being tested like this.
*****
“O villainous raven,” they say,
“that water will flow again to the rose garden.
The world will be filled with color and fragrance again,
just like heaven, just like heaven.”
*****
How long will this denial, this doubt last?
You are a mine of Beauty. You have taste, charm.
Fly to the sky like sight, without stairs.
*****
O Sun who does all good, come to the sign of Aries.
Eliminate all traces of ice and mud. Spread ambergris, ambergris.
Fill the rose garden with laughter. Bring life to the dead.
Light up the Day of Judgement. Do it now, clearly. Do it now.
And now, the garden does bring hundreds of gifts
from the land of Absence, hundreds of them.
Seeds are freed from their jail.
We are also freed from inside our houses.
The rose garden is filled with hundreds of roses.
Gossip stops. Time starts giving birth.
Time becomes the father and helps to give birth.
*****
I am so filled with this tumult that I can hardly talk.
I’ll stop. In fact, it’s impossible to put into words
all the thoughts in my heart.
Be silent. Listen. New news is coming from the garden, from the birds.
An arrow has come flying from the land of Absence.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 1, ghazal 89, verses extracted from 1091 to 1115, pages 210-213.