With a heart unknown to a flame

With a heart unknown to a flame,
With an eye not pure,
Thou surely lackest the daring
For a vision sublime.

Cunning and sharp, but not
Suffused with the dew of tears
Is the eye that Western knowledge
Has made bright and keen.

Sufis and mullahs know not
About my passion, my yearning,
They have not yet learnt
The rudiments of love.

I am a flash of lightning,
With an eye on hills and woods;
Dust—embedded straws
Are unworthy of my assault.

The world belongs to the Muslim
Who cares not for his life;
And no one is a Muslim
Unless he loves the Apostle.