An Ocean without Shore: A Poem by Sufi Poet of Andalusia Ibn Al-Arabi; Translated by Dina Al-Mahdy (En/Ar)

I marveled at an ocean without shore,	and at a shore without an ocean;
And at a morning without duskiness,	and at a night without daybreak;
And a sphere with no locality	known to either the fool or the scholar;
And at an azure dome standing,	rotating around its center; compulsion.
And at pillars without over-arching domes	and a place hiding no secrets.
I courted in secret which was not altered by concealing it;	for I was asked: “Has thought enchanted you? “
To which I replied: “I have no power over that;	Be kind and patient with it while you live.
But, if the thought did not settle	in my mind, the embers kindle into flame,
And everything is given up to fire	the like of which was never seen before in night or dawn!”
And it was said to me: “He does not pluck a flower	who calls himself with courtesy ‘Freeborn’.”
“He who woos the beautiful woman in her boudoir, love-beguiled,	will never deem the bridal-price too high!”
I gave her the dower and married her	throughout the night until dawn-break
But I did not find other than myself. So,	whom did I marry? May her affair be known:
For the sun reflected its light in	the radiant moon and the shining stars;
Dispraised like time, the Prophet (Blessings on him!)	had once declared of Your Lord that He is Time.

An Ocean without Shore by Ibn Al-Arabi, From the Kitab ‘Anqâ’ mughrib, one of the earliest surviving works by Ibn ‘Arabi