Original content

English translation

Earth says to the earth of the body: Return, Abandon the soul, come to us like dust. You are our kind, you have priority with us, Better that you free yourself from that body and that moisture. It says: Indeed, but I am fettered, Though like you I am weary from separation. The waters seek the moisture of the body, Saying: O moisture, return from exile to us. The aether calls to the warmth of the body: Since you are of fire-nature, take the path to your own origin. There are seventy-two ailments in the body, From the pulls of the elements without cord. Illness comes to sever the body, So that the elements release one another. These four elements are birds with bound feet— Death and infirmity and illness are the foot-looseners. When their feet are freed from one another, The bird of each element surely takes flight. The attraction of these origins and offshoots Places a pain in our body at every breath, So that it may tear apart these compositions And the bird of each part may fly to its own origin. The wisdom of God comes as obstacle to this haste, And keeps them together in health until the appointed time. It says: O parts, the appointed time is not yet manifest, Flapping your wings before your appointed time is of no benefit. When each part seeks its own reunion, How must the soul be—a stranger in separation?