I Chain of day and night Fashioner of events Basis of life and death Two tone silken thread Fiber of attributes Pitch of prospects Chain of day and night Sitting in judgment Setting a value on us When we're lacking Death is your destiny Death is my destiny What else is reality The flow of one age Neither day nor night All crafts vanish Black and white fade Annihilation the end II But in this form Hues of eternal life Splendor of man's love Love is life's base Death has no claim on love Love itself the tide Stemming the torrent Love is unnamed eras Love is Gabriel's breath Love is the Prophet of God Love is the Word of God Love is the radiant rose Love is raw wine Love the goblet of kings Love draws life's music Love is passion for life Love is fire of life III O Mosque of Cordoba Born of love with no past Color or stone or brick Harp or song or speech Man's passionate creation A drop of blood turns Even stone into hearts The heart's voice is joy Burning and melody You illuminate the heart My song burns the breast You draw man's heart To the presence of God But the passion of love For God is man's alone I spark man's passion Though his sight is finite His heart is wider than the sky So what if God has rights He doesn't earn the pain I am an Indian infidel Witness my fervor In my heart prayers On lips blessings Love is my flute Love is my song In my every bone "God is God" IV Witness of man's worth Your glory mirrors his soul Firm columns soar Palms in Syrian sands Sinai's light gleams roof Gabriel crowns the minaret A Muslim can never despair Standing where the Prophets stood His horizon infinite Tigris Danube Nile flood his veins Cup-bearer and horseman In love a warrior A sword's shadow his armor "There is no god but God" V You reveal man's secret Ardor of his days Dissolution of his nights His submission As is God's hand So is the believer's Man prospers on deeds He is clay and fire Divine within Free of both worlds His ambition small His purpose large Pure-hearted in war or peace God's compass revolves Around man's faith And the world is illusion Man of God is reason's horizon The harvest of love Fire of the gathering Heaven's passion VI Art lover's Mecca Faith's grandeur You made Andalusia holy Only Muslims mirror your grandeur O those Arab horsemen Pledged to truth Revealed this new secret People who embrace Faith Renounce the material They enlightened the West Yemen's scent persists Even today Arabia's music Lingers in Andalusia's breeze VII Alas for centuries No Calls to Prayer Echo the minaret In which valley At which destination Is love's caravan inducing frenzy As all Europe swept away the old order Repainted the face of the West So today those torrents stir Muslims A divine prophecy seals my lips But let us watch secrets surface From the ocean's depth Watch the sky change hue VIII A cloud drenched in twilight The sun scatters rubies A peasant's daughter sings Youth sails on heart's boat On the Guadalquivir Someone dreams of another age New order still veiled by fate Another dawn is approaching In my mind's eye If I unveil my thoughts Fan the flames of my song Europe couldn't endure Life without revolution is death As man's creations are soulless Without passionate belief So my song __________ (Written in 1932 on Spanish soil, mainly in the Mosque of Cordoba) _____________ Translated by Rafiq Kathwari Source: Big City Lit