Hadith of Love 

By Muhyiddin Ibn `Arabi

Lightning flashed
    and he yearned for the East 

Had it flashed from the West 

     there he’d have turned 

I burn for the lightning, 

     the flash, not for this 

or for some other 

     piece of ground 

The Eastwind brought us
    the word—from distraction 

from rapture and sorrow 

     from my disarray 

From drunkenness, reason, 

     longing and grief, 

from the fire 

     from my heart 

The one you seek 

     is within your ribs 

turned in each breath 

    from side to side 

Tell him

     he’s the one 

who lit the fire 

     within my heart

To be with you now 

      alone would quench it 

If it rages, why 

    blame my love? 

Muhyiddin Ibn `Arabi, translated by Michael Sells, in The Translator of Desires: Poems by Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (Princeton University Press, 2021)