Abu Hamid al-Ghazali
Translated by Martin Lings

I am a bird, and this was once my cage;
But I have flown, leaving it as a token.
…
Ere now I was a dead man in your midst,
But I have come to life, and doffed my shroud.

Listen to the poem translation, read by Guy Ogilvy for the Matheson Trust:

Click here for a bilingual PDF

Originally published by the Islamic Texts Society, and reproduced here by kind permission.