{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/spa/spa07.htm","path":"isl/spa/spa07.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/spa/spa07.htm","text":"Selections from the Poetry of the Afghans, by H.G. Raverty, [1868]\nO Thou, in heart ignorant concerning thine own soul!\n O man, seek thou the nature of it, from the reality itself!\nFrom the refulgence of religion, acquire thou comprehension:\n Bear away, unto the desert, this darkness of infidelity!\nSin abandon; and set out towards devotion and piety!\n This is the road, without anxiety, and from danger free.\nThis secret praise is the lamp of truth and orthodoxy;\n Therefore, from the Immaculate's hand, the lighted lamp take.\nShould perception's light become enkindled in thine heart,\n Thou wilt, altogether, acquire life's happiness and felicity.\nThe penetrating, and the enlightened, are spectators of both worlds;\n But the bat flieth about in the dark, without seeing.\nWhat do I, blind that I am, know of the state of the sublime?\n How wilt thou, from the deaf, ask the import of sound?\nThou wilt comprehend, forthwith, the language of all things,\n Shouldst thou, sagacious one! make thine heart's ear to hear.\nErr not, regarding the amount of attributes and properties;\n And unto the source of the essence, bear the essence itself.\nAbout their own materiality, the enlightened are in torment;\n But there can be no dread of mortality from corruption itself.\nEvery attainer\u00a0* who hath passed beyond this nature frail,\n Assuredly discovereth the signification of immortality.\nHe wandereth about in the boundlessness of infinity:\n He arrived even unto his home, that he might unity behold.\nThat fruit, which on its own branch acquired ripeness,\n This brief claim of its own perfection, made to the parent tree\u2014\n\"Notwithstanding there is not much excess in thy greatness;\n Still, within this body of mine, do I see thee, entirely, O tree!\nFrom the first, thy root germinated from me, and flourished:\n The development of thy purpose devolved, wholly, on me.\"\nAnswer, to this effect, on the part of the tree, proceeded\u2014\n \"Colour and flavour, O fruit! whence didst thou acquire?\nFrom one fruit, naught but a single tree is produced;\n And the fruit of that tree is renewed, year by year.\"\nThe reply from the tree, however, is here sound and wise,\n Though the observation of its fruit is, of attention, worthy.\nFrom that, which possesseth no kernel, no corn groweth:\n It is not advisable that any one should sow husked seed.\nThe reputation of the servant lieth with his master;\n And without the servant, the master's dignity is not.\nInvoke, then, within thine heart, the sayings of M\u012brz\u0101,\n If the page of thy mind be unblotted, and unstained.\nWhen, with the mind, I examined the shoulder-bone of prediction,\u00a0*\n I saw that, within unity's area, the community of plenitude dwelleth.\nIn what manner shall I describe the infiniteness of the Omniscient,\n When all that's inscrutable, He hath drawn, like a veil, over His face?\nI behold, floating upon the surface of the waters, the ship of the earth;\u00a0\u2020\n And on all sides, I perceive, cones of stone have protruded therefrom.\nFor how long shall the heavenly bodies, in the firmament, revolve?\n By what art, profound, hath the Great Sage suspended them therein?\nThe conception of the intellect of the wise is unable to penetrate\n Unto where the hand of, \"Let it be,\" and \"It was,\"\u00a0\u2021 hath reached.\nThese unadorned heavens became arrayed with embellishments,\n Which He, with the diamonds of omnipotence, carved out.\nThe lamp of the sun and the moon became enkindled therein\u2014\n He assented not that, unrevealed, His own skill should remain.\nFrom the clouds, He caused the genial rain to descend on earth;\n And herbs and plants of every kind he disseminated thereon.\nOn its face, the phenomena of spring and autumn, so admirable, arose;\n And the gradations of heat and cold were diffused throughout.\nFrom the whole achromatism of colour, that manifesteth itself,\n The face of nature is with every tint and hue emblazoned.\nOn all sides, where\u2019er I cast mine eyes, of every tinge and dye,\n The chequered carpet of the Great Chamberlain is spread out.\nThe countless creatures that, in all directions, meet the eye,\n Are the army of this great chess-board, in order arranged.\nHere, the destiny of every one, whatever he may be, is fulfilled\u2014\n From the game's commencement, the knights are mounted, the footmen on foot.\nAnd mankind themselves, originally, are of one origin and race;\n Yet some rule empires, whilst others beg from door to door!\nThough the beasts of the field exist, from inconvenience free,\n The whole burden of \"Do\" and \"Refrain\" is laid upon mankind.\nUnto every man his own private interests are the most agreeable;\n But the decrees of the Great Judge are separately meted unto all.\nThe mercy of the All-merciful is equally extended to all men;\n Though some have chosen to deny Him, whilst others have obeyed.\nFor the use of mankind were all living creatures produced;\n And man himself created, to acquire knowledge of the truth.\nHe, who in this life, acquireth not a perception of the nature divine,\n Hath naught of humanity in him; and \u2019tis just to term him a beast.\nWhosoever giveth ear unto the inordinate promptings of carnality,\n Though, in outward appearance, he liveth, yet his soul is annihilated.\nWherefore doth he give himself airs about this short existence;\n Since, without an aim, he is standing like a sign-post in the path?\nLike unto the hare, with eyes wide open, he for ever sleepeth:\n In what manner, as though entranced, shall the sleep-overcome awake?\nHe hath abandoned the path at the counsel of the Accursed:\n His mind is misled by hypocrisy's manifold deceits.\nThe poor, ignorant creature is accounted a demon, and beast of prey:\n Even worse still\u2014he is amongst decayed carcasses numbered.\nHis dark, confined heart is as a tomb, for his soul is dead:\n His decked-out body, a grave, on which the mould is beaten down.\nHis distressed and distracted mind is the emblem of the worm:\n His sepulchre is intact: it is his soul that is devoured.\nHe hath no peace nor tranquillity: nought else save torment:\n Every moment overwhelmed in misery: driven away as one unclean.\nHe possesseth not strength sufficient, the human form to support\u2014\n He took the deposit on his head, without calculating its weight.\u00a0*\nLike unto the mule, it is expelled from its own kindred race,\n That, which being one by nature, hath become, with another, mixed.\nTyrant and fool that he was, he should have acted in this way\u2014\n He should have cried with piercing cries, and have dashed his head.\u00a0\u2020\nSuch a ponderous load, as neither Heaven nor earth could bear,\n By what strength could the weak, helpless, ignorant, sustain\nIt behoveth to call for aid, with all speed, unto the perfect,\n That they may consign the burden into the hands of the Master.\nUnto every wise man, who hath become released from the debt,\n Therefrom, the hereditary gift of knowledge divine hath fallen.\nThe gravity and importance of such knowledge the saints know;\n Since they have sought it in the mind, and unto the world's limits.\nHis laws and His edicts go out upon every person and thing:\n He hath built up a wall from this crude and untempered dust.\nHe made the inanimate to be counted among the living,\n When He, the Immaculate, with His own breath, breathed on them.\nHe will live for ever and ever, and death shall affect him not,\n Through whom the Eternal hath drawn the thread of vitality.\nWhat blessed one became purified from ungodliness and scepticism?\n He, whom the Lord of Holiness hath, with sanctity's water, cleansed.\nUpon the face of the waters, his lamp effulgent burneth;\n And, like straws, infidelity and mistrust consume thereon.\nAt his entreaty, from the stars, was ill-presage wholly removed;\n And, thro\u2019 his good offices, no hour is accounted portentous.\nO M\u012aRZ\u0100! of the praises due unto the perfections of the saints,\n Who, commensurate with their infinity, hath a tittle rendered?\n is the vanity\u00a0* of thine own doubt and mistrust;\n And, thro\u2019 scepticism, thou sustainest injury exceeding.\nFall not into error, concerning thy outward appearance;\n Since, after spring passeth away, the autumn cometh.\nSet out in pursuit of the great object of solicitude,\n Whilst thou thy command upon the bridle retainest.\nThe Omnipotent is, by no means, distant from thee;\n For He is nearer unto thee, than even thine own self.\nWhether on the earth, or whether in the heavens,\n The Omniscient there also is present in the midst.\nHe became, in unity and individuality, unique:\n In immensity, and in infinitude, He is diffused.\nFrom His divinity, He departed and advanced towards it;\n And now, throughout the whole universe, He moveth.\nThe limits of His boundless infinity cannot be discovered;\n And in mankind is His abode, and His place of sojourn.\nHe himself inflicteth, and He himself performeth;\n And man He hath made, the motive and the plea.\nFrom every saint that hath commenced his mission,\n Some sign, or some indication becometh manifest.\nThe scepticism of M\u012brz\u0101 hath vanished, and is no more;\n But whatever is by him spoken, M\u012b\u2019\u0101n Ros\u2019h\u0101n\u00a0* speaketh.\n standeth for the pilgrim\u00a0*\u2014in this path let him proceed:\n Let him, in all sincerity, become a seeker after Him.\nFrom the sleep of negligence and remissness awake!\n Follow now in pursuit of thy well-wisher and friend!\nTho\u2019 the object thou seekest be obscure and invisible,\n Ride lightly, and without baggage, in following it.\nIts acquirement is attended with much trouble and toil:\n Determine thou, therefore, a dauntless spirit to show.\nSince the lamp of love and affection is become lighted,\n Like the moth, to-day, become thou the sacrifice thereon.\nHe hath bestowed upon thee the cup of vitality;\n Then let the largess be upon the cupbearer scattered!\u00a0\u2020\nSeek not to discover the faults and failings of others;\n But become the mirror of thine own acts and ways.\nThe desired object of thy attainment is near unto thee:\n Then, in sincerity and piety, towards it draw near!\nThou art, from the beginning, one and indivisible:\n Become now, therefore, the narrator of those hidden things!\nGod is one\u2014without partner, and without associate:\n Forbear thou, then, from all, contrary thereto.\nIn this, O M\u012brz\u0101! the choice lieth with thee, entirely;\n Therefore, in the qualities of the tranquil, be thou stedfast!\n is significant of faith's straight and narrow path;\u00a0*\n And, after much terror and danger, its goal is attained.\nThe artifices and deceits of the Devil are manifold in number;\n But far, far worse than those, is that enemy the flesh.\nFollow thou not, in pursuit of the lusts of the world:\n The state is evil, and their promptings are pernicious.\nThe Devil spread out for man, the snare of posterity;\n And wealth, and various pleasures, are the baits thereon.\nDistinction, and fame, one of its ramparts became,\n Whilst another of its attractions were silver and gold.\nHe layeth out separate snares quietly, and with caution;\n But the whole are like unto embroidery upon the carpet.\nHe will neither be prosperous nor happy, in this world,\n Who giveth ear unto the temptations of the Accursed.\nThough a whole region should fall beneath his sway;\n Still, that man's heart will long, another to acquire.\nThey who give way unto the promptings of the flesh,\n For them, especially, there is torment excruciating.\nBut they who have passed safely this dread ordeal,\n For them are the perfect gifts of the patient and the meek.\nUnto M\u012brz\u0101, His beneficence and His kindness are vouchsafed;\n For He alone, is the All-merciful, and the Accepter of penitence.\n signifieth the great evil\u00a0* of mistrust, and scepticism,\n Through which, all the world is, in bewilderment plunged.\nThat mind cannot rest assured, or be at peace,\n Which is constantly distracted in pursuit of nothingness.\nIt cannot partake of the advantages of unity;\n For it is in the infiniteness of infinity dispersed.\nThe elaboration of its counsels and reflections is great;\n But \u2019tis like unto a cloud, that containeth no rain.\nVerily, he will not be able to attain unto perfection,\n Whose looks are directed unto detriment and defect.\nThe ignorant wreaketh tyranny, merely upon himself,\n Who is the sponsor of the onerous deposit of faith.\u00a0\u2020\nA worshipper of himself, sunk in egotism and vanity,\n He is, like the first Adam, in amazement and perplexity lost.\nThe soul contained in the human form, is like unto Joseph;\n And the body's nature and disposition are its prison-house.\nWhen it hath become, from this thraldom, liberated,\n It is then in safety, and Heaven is its dwelling-place.\nWith transports filled, and mounted upon the steed of love,\n Enraptured, it is come forth unto the Choukan\u00a0* of its desire.\nDraw near, O M\u012brz\u0101, and lift up thine eyes!\n See! this is the ball, and this is the arena too!\n \u2014All that may be contrary to nature change:\u00a0\u2020\n Make the soul king, and wisdom its minister.\nGive not ear unto the flesh, for it is ignorant;\n And with wisdom, understanding regard.\nThe deceits of the Devil are without number;\n Therefore, consider as a fetter each of his spells.\nThere are five robbers\u00a0\u2021 in thine own house,\n Each of which, in separate places, chain up.\nDeprive them of all evil appetites and desires;\n And, in thy heart, give place to reliance on God.\nDraw thou near unto truthfulness and piety;\n And from thee, drive all deceit and guile.\nI have spoken unto thee without disguise;\n Therefore, guide all thy actions accordingly.\nShouldst thou seek to be with these gifts endowed,\n Then go, seek the society of thy spiritual guide.\nGuard well the heart from the Evil One;\n And upon it, register the remembrance of God.\nThe mundane things of this world are a dream:\n Now give thou the interpretation of the truth.\nSubtile and profound are the words of M\u012brz\u0101:\n In their elucidation, do thou thy perception show!\nThe loved-one is not concealed from thee,\n O thou obstruction, round about thy soul!\nThou thyself hast become thine own veil,\n Standing obdurate, in scepticism's path.\nThou becamest visible\u2014the beloved, invisible;\n But like unto thee, a perfect counterpart.\nSpotless and pure, on every side and surface\u2014\n A simple lineament, but substance without.\nShouldst thou behold her, thou art blest:\n How long, then, O forlorn! wilt thou gaze upon thyself?\nWhen doth grain shoot up and flourish\n In arid soil? O thou, of hard earth, a clod!\nWhen a clan pitcheth its tents upon a plain,\n Forthwith the grass thereon entirely disappeareth.\nThe black bee\u00a0* buzzeth lightly around the lotus;\n Whilst thou, O beetle! hast sunk under thy load.\nThe flame, full soon, consumeth the straw;\n But thou burnest, clumsy block! with many groans.\nFrom love alone, is the heart's existence:\n What were the callow brood, without the parent bird?\nO M\u012brz\u0101! the compact of affection and love,\n The moth, with the lamp, hath adjusted.\nThe anguish of love, alas! is incalculable.\n It is, alas! without antidote, without cure.\nWithout its thorns, the rose will never be;\n And friendship, alas! is with absence coupled.\nThe beloved, happy, and in her own heart, at peace,\n Is, alas! unconcerned\u2014a ravisher of hearts!\nHe will undergo the pangs and agonies of love,\n Who may be, alas! reckless and regardless of life.\nI live but in the remembrance of my dear one:\n Alas! indeed, I cannot exist, without my life.\nThe only regret of the ascetic M\u012aRZ\u0100, alas! is this\u2014\n That his passion's object is without indication.\nHow amazing is the sublimity of the mind of the adorer!\n Unto whose throne, there was no access, even for the giant \u00c6\u016bd.\u00a0*\nThis stage of it is more contracted than \u1e62ar\u0101t's narrow bridge:\u00a0\u2020\n How, then, did the army of love accomplish its ascent?.\nHis passion became like unto a vast and boundless ocean,\n Which, by its first swell, o\u2019erwhelmed him in the billows.\nThe sword of unity, from between, He removed altogether;\u00a0\u2021\n And upon infinitude, He conferred the name of spouse.\nThe boundless ocean, O M\u012brz\u0101! hath encompassed all things;\n But the Ganges merely floweth to Shams\u0101b\u0101d and Kanouj.\nIf it be thy wish to pass through life, from hatred and malice free,\n From the longings of covetousness deliver this spotless breast.\nThro\u2019 heedlessness of heart, like what wilderness art thou grown?\n Account the Devil's temptations a monster, not a gnat!\nThe expecting heart is one only\u2014its cares and anxieties many:\n The term, too, of thy existence, long or short, is nothingness.\nThe spiritual guest is an inestimable one: cherish him carefully\u2014\n Broken rice possesseth not the fitness for the tables of kings.\nCovetousness tottereth like one with ophthalmia stricken;\n But by perfect reliance upon the Almighty, cure thou the disease.\nChange sinful arrogance for meekness and humility;\n And the sword of thy vanity and pride return unto its sheath.\nBecome pliant, and bending, like unto the tender twig;\n Not of thine own accord, like a hard, dry log of wood.\nThe five fingers once had an astonishing dispute together,\n At which time the little finger acknowledged its own littleness.\nThere is dignity, in the very insignificance of form;\n Hence fitness for the ring went unto the little finger.\nOutwardly, become the spectator of the heart's internal things,\n O thou, from truth's source, great\u2014by scepticism, contemptible!\nO M\u012brz\u0101! behold thou the infinite greatness of unity;\n Since such delicious honey, is from the bee produced.\nThou art the vitality of my soul, O Thou, than soul itself, more precious to me!\n Thou art the whole universe's existence, O Thou, than the world, more precious to me!\nThy comprehension hath embraced all things; yet all things have not comprehended Thee:\n Thou hast possessed Thyself of the seat of faith, O Thou, than faith, more precious to me!\nWhence shall there be aught of bliss in Heaven, if that sight of Thee, be not for me?\n My heart is carried away in yearnings for Thee, O Thou, than Heaven, more precious to me!\nWherefore should I rehearse the world's praises? unto whom repeat them, when Thou art not?\n Thou, nightingale! gayest me hue and fragrance, O Thou, than the parterre, more precious to me!\nThe bower is the hearts of the worshippers, and the heavenly Paradise of the recluse;\n And the beholding of Thee, The Inscrutable, beyond all indication, precious to me!\nThou art without similitude; infinite; indubitable; without ambiguity:\n And hence, the mine of all things, O Thou, than every mine, more precious to me!\nThou art, moreover, the vitality of the universe; the breath of every living creature:\n Thou art the inspiration of this Adam, O Thou, than inspiration, more precious to me!\nThou art the repository of vitality, that hast pervaded all and every living thing:\n At times invisible, at others visible; but whether hidden or apparent, precious to me!\nThou art a voice, after many kinds; encompassing all things; without indication:\n Thou art without lineament in every respect; but, in every way, precious to me!\nThou art wholly inscrutable in all things: the invisible in the manifest:\n Thou art the signification in description, O Thou, beyond description, precious to me!\nConcerning the soul, what shall I say? verily, it is an attribute of unity itself:\n M\u012brz\u0101, without the soul cannot exist, O Thou, than soul even, more precious to me!\nShouldst thou once become an inmate of the house of God's love,\n Thou wilt, forthwith, become a stranger unto the world, entirely.\nFrom out of entity, nonentity will come upon thee;\n Thou, by this inexistent, in all existent, shalt unique become.\nThis perfect knowledge will be with thee, entirely;\n But thou wilt be mad in the sight of the weak-minded.\nThe whole arrows of calumny will be poured upon thee;\n And thus, thou wilt become the butt of great and small.\nFrom the world's unworthy, thou shalt the heart's concerns withdraw:\n Thou wilt be like a hidden treasure in a wilderness.\nShouldst thou change this, thy well-being, for misfortune,\n Thou wilt become the whole prosperity of all adversity.\nShouldst thou cast this heart of thine on that consuming flame,\n Thou wilt, the self-sacrificing moth become thereby.\nA pure, unadulterated wine shall fill thy mouth;\n From the effect of which, thou shalt be ever inebriated.\nThou wilt not hold, in any consideration, either world,\n Shouldst thou grow rich from the treasury of contentment.\nThus thou wilt shower mercy's genial rain upon the world,\n And become the seed, through the universe disseminated.\nThe all-knowing, concerning thy condition shall speak;\n And by truth, thou wilt become the parable of the truthful.\nOn speaking, thou wilt give reply worthy of being spoken;\n And become, of every harp and every melody, the harmony.\nThe eloquent, who shall enter on the praises of the Almighty,\n Shall, like unto M\u012brz\u0101, be remembered throughout all time.\nHe, who placeth reliance on the lying and deceitful,\n Maketh firebrands out of nothing, by such utter folly.\nIt is the senselessness of fools, in opposition to wisdom,\n That, in the heat of summer, raiseth a tower of snow.\nHis prosperity is trouble\u2014he groweth down-hearted thereby:\n And his fresh adversity addeth twofold misery his sorrows unto.\nEvery man, who seeketh fidelity from the perfidious world,\n Taketh it, in lease, for much bitterness, and many woes.\nSuccess and disaster good and evil\u2014are with the act coupled;\n But fools suppose such things influenced by the stars.\nI am amazed, beyond measure, at such like people,\n Who place any reliance upon the bubble's permanency.\nThe ocean's waves will, one day, dash against each other;\n And will, full speedily, the garment of the bubble rend.\nWhen the pious and devout view this running stream,\n They perceive, in its flowing, the scene of their own existence.\nThe wise enter upon the search of the object of their desires:\n The beasts of the field, about food and sleep, themselves concern.\nWhen the adorers awake from the slumber of remissness,\n They take due heed of the fleeting of every breath.\nThat the traveller may, from his sweet repose awaken,\n The warning bell of departure, tolleth at the dawn of day.\u00a0*\nThe delight of the Darwesh is in fervour, and in study:\n The pleasure of Chieftains is in their banners and drums.\nThat country cannot be exempt from confusion and ruin,\n Whose army indulgeth in grossest tyranny and rapacity.\nIf a friend should lend ear unto the secret of the stranger,\n Friends will, themselves, ruin their own affairs, thereby.\nWhen the mandate of the All-powerful shall reach him,\n From whence shall M\u012brza's strength a remedy obtain?\nHow shall I define what thing I am\n Wholly existent, and non-existent, thro\u2019 Him, I am.\nWhatever becometh naught out of entity,\n The signification of that nothingness am I.\nSometimes a mote in the disc of the sun;\n At others, a ripple on the water's surface.\nNow I fly about on the wind of association:\n Now I am a bird of the incorporeal world.\nBy the name of ice I also style myself:\n Congealed in the winter season am I.\nI have enveloped myself in the four elements:\n I am the clouds on the face of the sky.\nFrom unity I have come into infinity:\n Indeed, nothing existeth, that I am not.\nMy vitality is, from life's source itself;\n And I am the speech, every mouth within.\nI am the hearing-sense within every ear;\n And also the sight of every eye am I.\nI am the potentiality in every thing:\n I am the perception every one within.\nMy will and inclination are with all;\n With mine own acts, also, satisfied am I.\nUnto the sinful and vicious, I am evil;\n But unto the good beneficent am I.\nIn the lot of the devoted, I am the honey:\n In the soul of the impious, the sting.\nI am with every one, and in all things.\n Without imperfection\u2014immaculate I am.\n\u2019Tis by the mouth of M\u012brz\u0101 that I speak:\n An enlightened heart, without similitude, I am.\nThe tresses of this impassioned loved-one, are all dishevelled:\n They are spread all around her face, like a shadow unto.\nShe hath prepared every separate hair as a snare\u2014\n Each one laid for the capture of wounded hearts.\nWithin those hearts how can there be aught of tranquillity,\n When she hath held them in check, by the reins of love?\nSince from such an abode of their own they are exiled,\n Where is the land of their sojourn, in which peace may be found?\nThey, who have their reason lost, thro\u2019 such a charmer's love,\n Have now renounced both the rosary and the Brahmanical cord.\u00a0*\nAll things have happened through their own affection;\n And those without it, are useless, in all respects.\nThey have no place, either in the closet or the wine-shop:\n Neither in the Muslim's regard, nor the infidel's sympathy.\nWith regard to such like eyes, what caution can I use,\n When their glances are prepared for piercing me?\nHer lovely person she hath transformed to a sandal tree;\u00a0*\n And those tresses, like unto snakes, are around it fallen.\nHe, who nourisheth the desire of such a sight as this,\n On him, are the whole miseries of the universe heaped.\nThe hearts of lovers ever kindle, at the loved-one's glance;\n For \u2019tis a flame; and her eyes are like firebrands unto.\nTo-day she hath again lighted the lamp of her beauty;\n And her adorers\u2019 hearts, like the moth, are oblations thereon.\nThe names, nightingale and wooer, are one and the same;\n And conscious hearts, in her praise, are melodious songsters.\u00a0\u2020\nHer eyes are lotuses, and the pupils, they are black bees;\u00a0\u2021\n And their gaze, like the gazelle's, is free and unrestrained.\nHer eyebrows are bows, and her eyelashes, the arrows;\n And to launch upon her lover, she hath raised them.\nThe pure and sincere, in both worlds, enjoy liberty:\n \u2019Tis a tower, whence to gain a good sight of the beloved.\nThan this supreme felicity, what greater can there be,\n When, every moment, they expect the adored to behold?\nThis infinity, on the water-wheel\u00a0\u00a7 of unity she placed;\n And each water-pot, in its own turn, cometh and departeth.\nShe hath endowed every one with her own understanding;\n And every one's perception is, in proportion, according.\nO M\u012brz\u0101! behold thou those languid, sleepy eyes,\n That, for the love of the adored, beam with phrenzy ever!\nWhat inquiry makest thou concerning the lover's condition I\n No one hath hazarded a conjecture of the interminable road!\nWherefore had I been afflicted with misery such as this,\n Had I guarded the heart from hearing the sight's promptings?\nHow can there be any peace or tranquillity for them,\n Whose hearts, the ardent glances of the beloved have abducted?\nLove, she hath made the chain of a distracted breast;\n And, by the power of her glance, draweth the bond unto her.\nA wondrous state of affection hath come over them\u2014\n Without seeing, they are disturbed, and in pursuit tired out.\nWithout any will of their own, they search for liberty:\n With such a death impending, the dead yearn after life.\nWhen the ripe fruit falleth to the earth, in its perfection,\n The seed, with gladness, boweth its head to the ground.\nThis bubble, even now formed by the water, is by it again broken;\n But what is carried away by the flood, floateth, its surface, upon.\nThey of little sense, are at their good fortune perplexed;\n And this wind, like unto chaff, carrieth them before it.\nOne, here and there, comprehendeth the reality's purport\u2014\n The lightly equipped travelleth, easily, along the narrow path.\nCast, O M\u012brz\u0101, thine eyes upon the burnished mirror!\n There is no particle of iron-dross in the steel thereof.\nUpon them, that journey on the road of love,\n New assaults, incessantly, are made.\nHow can there be any peace in those hearts,\n That have beheld the splendour of the beloved?\nThough, at first, she showed her face in its splendour,\n A part of her mantle is now drawn o\u2019er it again.\nShe hath made each of those eyelashes an arrow;\n And her eyebrows are the ambush with bended bow.\nThe pilgrims, she hath ripened by separation's heat;\n And now her preparations are for the reaping of them.\nCare and anxiety are the motives of existence;\n But what is life unto them, that before death die?\nSince from sweet existence, they have, their hearts withdrawn,\n The world is a barleycorn in the sight of their resolve.\nThe truly beloved is, by no means, distant from thee:\n Thine own insensate scepticism is the abyss in thy front.\nTo that godly one, who entered the transient abode,\n The whole universe is God, and he followeth Him.\nIt behoveth to acquire love from both the eyes,\n That, apparently separate from each other, are but one sight.\nSince thou wanderest not far from thy abode,\n Surely thy heart, O M\u012brz\u0101! is pledged unto thy beloved.\nWhen that rose, out of nothingness, a form assumed,\n The violet fell down, in adoration, at its feet.\nThou shalt drink from the cup of the perfect-one,\n If to the melody of flute and harp, thy intellect respond.\nMake thine heart the pleasant meadow of Abraham!\n And become thou, as the scorching fire of Nimr\u016bd therein!\u00a0*\nBehold the fidelity and sincerity of the world!\n See how it deserted the tribes of Tham\u016bd and \u00c6\u0101d!\u00a0\u2020\nLike as the rose bloometh, so it fadeth away;\n As its short life, so is mine also computed.\nWhere is the rose, and where, too, is the thorn?\n For all things soever there is a purpose fixed.\nLet the idea of a partner with God perish:\n The Indivisible is one only, and Omnipresent.\nHe hath entered into the emporium of infinity:\n He is the attestor, and He is the attested become.\nThe adored, from His countenance hath raised the veil;\n And the fortune of M\u012brz\u0101 become propitious and august.\nHow long wilt thou wander, O covetous one! in the world's pursuit?\n This very avarice, in itself, is an impediment in thy design!\nFor far fiercer than fire, is the flame of covetousness:\n As much more as its food may be, so much is its voracity.\nNew cares and anxieties about it, every moment increase:\n It hath taken all zest and pleasure from its bondsmen.\nIt coquets and toys, separately, with every one:\n To the whole creation it is the seller, and they its buyers are.\nNeither did Shadd\u0101d, in his arrogance, enter his paradise,\u00a0*\n Nor did \u1e32\u0101r\u016bn\u00a0\u2020 derive any profit from its pursuit.\nIt concealed religion from the children of profanity;\n And the straight-path, mere rites and ceremonies termed.\u00a0*\nIt hath spread out a great net in this universal road;\n And no wise man, save the contented, escapeth from it.\nThe pious and devout, thro\u2019 contentment, peace of mind acquire,\n When unto the Consoler, they their distressed hearts turn.\nFrom head to foot, the devout shall become illumined,\n When they, thro\u2019 their hearts' courage, to the Creator draw nigh.\nHe, who hath died unto the world, obtaineth all things\u2014\n This is the great axiom of the Sower of bygone times.\nThe advantages he will acquire, will exceed all computation,\n Who, in his necessities, becometh the acquirer of the Giver of Good.\nBoth states of being he vieweth, upon every respiration:\n In truth, he is absorbed into the Shining Bright.\nOn the foot of the spirit, he ever soareth upon them,\n However sublime the highest heaven, or the empyrean boundless.\nHis ice-like scepticism becometh thawed, by unity's sun:\n He neither speaketh, nor acteth, save with the Creator's assent.\nThe felicity of the wise is after this manner recounted\u2014\n That its signification relateth unto the reality itself.\nIf adoration unto the Almighty is a divine command,\n Bow thine head, unto the good and perfect too.\nHow long wilt thou have occasion for M\u012brz\u0101, as the medium?\n Distinguish thou thyself, O auditor, the speaker's voice!\nI continually call to mind this sweet and charming friend,\n Through this exalted name of whom, I acquire the heart's good.\nHow then can I be patient, severed from such a dear one,\n When I perceive no sign of resignation in my heart?\nThrough this anxiety about her, I am ever miserable,\n As to what remedy I shall devise; of whom, inquiry make.\nIn its eagerness for a look, it hath wholly left its seclusion:\n With what chains shall I restrain this incomparable heart?\nExcept I make a snare of the ringlets of the faces of the fair,\n And place for the bait, their musky moles therein.\nI will put forth the whole wisdom of the enlightened,\n If I may, this wayward heart, by any means, entrap.\nVerily, it is become so utterly scattered to the winds,\n That I find not the least vestige of it, in any direction.\nIt hath abandoned the universe, in search of the beloved:\n How then shall I quit the world, in the pursuit of it?\nNo tidings thereof can be obtained, in any quarter:\n I sit not down, abstaining, nor do I follow, in pursuit.\nThe body's vitality is the heart; and the heart's, the soul;\n Then, without heart, and without soul, how shall I exist?\nOf life, not even a dying breath remaineth unto me:\n Frantic and beside myself thereat, I beat my hands and feet.\nStill, this my death, is far better for me, than life itself,\n Since, my soul I have abandoned, for the loved-one's love.\nRegarding the putting off of mortality, M\u012brz\u0101 thus testifieth\u2014\n When from this being, I cease to be, I shall entity become.\n57:* One who has attained a certain stage in the \u1e62\u016bfi mysticisms.\n58:* , walaey, The shoulder-bone of an animal, or more particularly that of a sheep, used by the Afgh\u0101ns in divination.\n58:\u2020 \"The ship of the earth\" here referred to is the earth itself, and the \"cones of stone\" are the mountains protruding from its surface. According to the ideas of Mu\u1e25ammadans, the earth is placed upon the waters, in the midst of which it floats.\n58:\u2021 kun fa-yak\u016bn, \"Be! then it is,\" a phrase attributed to the Creator at the creation of the world.\n60:* The conditions which Adam accepted from the Creator regarding the duties for which he was created. See M\u012brz\u0101, Poem VI., second note.\n60:\u2020 Referring to Adam.\n61:* kh, is the first letter of kh\u016bd\u012b, vanity, pride, etc.\n62:* M\u012b\u2019\u0101n or P\u012br Rosh\u0101n, the founder of the Rosh\u0101ni\u0101n doctrine, and ancestor of M\u012brz\u0101. See page 51.\n63:* stands for , of which it is the first letter, signifying a pilgrim, a traveller, and, metaphorically, a devotee.\n63:\u2020 A custom of scattering money, by way of largess, amongst the people on festive occasions.\n64:* \u2014the direct and narrow path\u2014the way of religion and orthodoxy.\n65:* The first letter of , sin, evil, fault, infirmity, etc.\n65:\u2020 By faith is understood here, entire obedience to the will of God, on the observance or neglect of which, no less than eternal happiness, or misery depends; and so difficult in the performance, that when God proposed it to the vaster parts of creation, on the conditions annexed, they declined to undertake as a duty, that, the failing wherein must be attended with such terrible consequences. God made the proposal to the heavens, earth, and mountains, which, at their first creation, were endued with reason; and made known to them that he had made a law, and created Paradise for the recompense of such as were obedient to it, and Hell for the punishment of the disobedient; to which they answered, they were content to be obliged to perform the services for which they were created, but would not undertake to fulfil the divine law on these conditions, and therefore desired neither reward nor punishment. When Adam was created, the same offer was made to him, and he accepted it, notwithstanding man's weaknesses, and the infirmities of his nature. Jell\u0101l-ud-D\u012bn, al Beid\u0101wi's Commentary on the Kur\u2019\u0101n.\n66:* Chouk\u0101n or Choug\u0101n is the Persian name of a game resembling tennis or cricket, but played on horseback by many Asiatic tribes. It also signifies the crooked bat used therein.\n66:\u2020 the first letter of , contrary, different, etc.\n66:\u2021 The five robbers or enemies here referred to, as in the house of the body, are the five senses\u2014hearing, seeing, touch, taste, and smell.\n68:* A bee enamoured of the lotus.\n69:* \u00c6\u016bd is the Arabian name of Og, the son of Anak, concerning whose enormous stature, his escaping the Flood, and the manner of his being slain by Moses, the Mu\u1e25ammadans relate numerous fables. See Numbers, xxi. 34, 35.\n69:\u2020 The bridge over the infernal fire, and over which those who are to be admitted into Paradise, as well as those who are destined to Hell-fire, must pass. It is described as finer than the thread of a famished spider, and sharper than the edge of a sword.\n69:\u2021 \"In remotest time, the sword was emblematic of chastity. When the Emperor Maximilian married Maria of Burgundy by proxy, he enjoins the knight, who is to be his representative, to lay him down in the bridal bed, to which he is to lead the princess, in full armour, and to place a drawn sword between himself and her.\"\u2014Chambers' Journal, Vol. XI. From this it would appear to have been also practised by the nations of the East.\n74:* It is usual to ring a bell at the dawn of day, to arouse the people of a caravan to prepare to set out.\n77:* The sandal-wood tree is said to be the favourite haunt of black serpents.\n77:\u2020 The m\u016bs\u012bk\u0101r is a bird, said to have numerous holes in its beak, from which as many melodious sounds issue.\n77:\u2021 A species of bee, enamoured of the lotus.\n77:\u00a7 The Persian wheel is a contrivance for drawing water for irrigation, etc., round the rim of which a string of earthen pots revolves.\n80:* The commentators on the \u1e32ur\u2019\u0101n relate, that by Nimr\u016bd's (or Nimrod's) order, a large space was enclosed at K\u016btha, and filled with a vast quantity of wood, which being set on fire, burned so fiercely that no one dared to venture near it. Then they bound Abraham, and putting him into an engine (which some suppose to have been the Devil's invention) shot him into the midst of the lire, from which he was preserved by the angel Gabriel, who was sent to his assistance; the fire burning only the cords with which he was bound. They add, that the fire having miraculously lost its heat, in respect to Abraham, became an odoriferous air, and that the pile changed to a pleasant meadow; though it raged so furiously otherwise, that, according to some writers, about two thousand of the idolaters were consumed by it.\u2014Sale\u2019s Kur\u2019\u0101n, note to page 269.\n80:\u2020 \"And unto the tribe of Tham\u016bd we sent their brother S\u0101li\u1e25. He said, Oh my people, worship God: ye have no God besides him. Now hath a manifest proof come unto you from your Lord. * * * Those who were elated with pride replied, Verily, we believe not in that wherein ye believe. And they cut off the feet of the camel, and insolently transgressed the command of their Lord, and said, Oh S\u0101li\u1e25, cause that to come upon us which thou hast threatened us with, if thou art one of those who have been sent by God. Whereupon a terrible noise from Heaven assailed them; and in the morning they were found in their dwellings prostrate on their breasts, and dead.\"\u2014Al Kur\u2019\u0101n.\n81:* Shadd\u0101d and Shadd\u012bd, the two sons of \u00c6\u0101d, who reigned shortly after the death of their father, and extended their power over the greater part of the world; but the latter dying, his brother became sole monarch; who having heard of the celestial paradise, made a garden in imitation thereof, in the deserts of Aden, and called it Irem, after the name of his great-grandfather. When it was finished, he set out, with a great attendance, to take a view of it; but when they were come within a day's journey of the place they were all destroyed by a terrible noise from heaven. Sale's Kur\u2019\u0101n, page 488, and note.\n81:\u2020 K\u0101r\u016bn, the son of Yeshar (or Izhar), the uncle of Moses, and consequently p. 82 the same with Korah of the Scriptures. Ile surpassed every one in opulence, so much so, that the riches of \u1e32\u0101r\u016bn have become a proverb. God directed Moses to punish him; and the earth having opened under him, he was swallowed up, along with his palace, his riches, and his confederates.\n82:* That is to say, that the sacred book of the Lawgiver Mu\u1e25ammad has been called a mere collection of rites and ceremonies.","title":"Selections from the Poetry of the Afghans: M\u012brz\u0101 Kh\u0101n, An\u1e63\u0101r\u012b: The Poems of M\u012brz\u0101 Kh\u0101n, An\u1e63\u0101r\u012b","type":"page"}