بذي سَلَمٍ و الدَّيرِ من حاضرِ الحِمى
ظِباءٌ تُريكَ الشمسَ في صُور الدُّمى
فأرقُبُ أفلاكاً و أخدُمُ بِيعةً
و أحرُسُ روضاً بالربيع مُنمنَما
فوَقتاً أُسَمَّي راعيَ الظَّبيِ بالفلا
و وقتاً أُسَمَّى راهباً و منجِّما
تثلَّثَ محبوبي و قد كان واحداً
كما صُيِّرَ الاقنامُ بالذّاتِ أَقْنُما
فلا تُنْكِرنْ يا صاحِ قولي غزالةً
تُضيءُ لِغِزلانٍ يَطُفْنَ على الدُّمى
فللظَّبي أجياداً و للشَّمس أوجُهاً
و للدُّمية البيضاءِ صدراً و مِعصَما
كما قد أعَرْنا للغصون ملابساً
و للروضِ أخلاقاً و للبرق مَبسِما
- ابن عربي من ترجمان الأشواق
At Dhu Salam and the monastery in the abode of Al-Hima are gazelles who show thee the sun in the form of marbled statues.
Therefore I watch spheres and serve in a church and guard a many-colored meadow in the spring.
And at one time I am called the herdsman of the gazelles in the desert, and at another time I am called a Christian monk and an astrologer.
My Beloved became three although He is one, even as the (three) Persons are made one Person in essence.
So be not be displeased, O friend, that I speak of gazelles that circumambulate the marble statues like a "shining sun".
Or that I use metaphorically the necks of gazelles, the face of the sun, and the breast and the wrist of the white statue,
Just as I have lent to the "branches" spiritual endowments and to the meadows moral qualities, and to the lighting laughing lips.
- Ibn Arabi from Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq.