That Moon Which The Sky Never Saw

That Moon Which The Sky Never Saw

That moon which the sky never saw

 even in dreams

 has risen again.
 

 Bringing a fire

 that no water can drown.

See here where the body

 has its house

and see here my soul.

     The cup of love has made the one

drunk

 and the other a ruin.

 

When the tavern keeper

 became my heart's companion.
 

  Love turned my blood

 to wine
  and my heart burned on a spit.

 

When the eye is full of him

 a voice resounds,
 

 Oh cup

be praised

oh wine be proud.

Suddenly when my heart saw

the ocean of love,

   it leapt away from me calling
 Look for me.

The face of Shams-ud Din
  the glory of Tabriz

    is the sun that hearts follow

 like clouds.

From East Window: Poems from Asia,

 Translated by W. S. Merwin