Perfect Love

Perfect Love

Who would be loved, let him possess

A true beloved like mine,

And share in secret blessedness

Love's mystery divine:

Lovers like us none else, I guess,

Are found in earth's confine.

'Soul of the world' - such was the name

My idol gave to me;

While I do live, her I proclaim

Soul of my world to be,

And none I know doth own the same

Dear loyalty as she.

Behold me now - take not as heard,

But ask, and all will say

That this is sooth: this was her word:

'I shall be thine for aye'

Truly she is, as she averred,

And I am hers alway.

A.J. Arberry

Taken from Persian Poems An Anthology of Verse Translations