In the name of the Life-giving Guardian of Earth!
The Most Wise! causing speech on the tongue to have
birth!
The Bountiful Giver! who aids when implored;
The Kind, Sin-Forgiving, Excuse-Taking Lord!
So mighty, that all from His door who retired,
And went to another, no honour acquired!
The heads of great monarchs, with necks stretching high,
At His Court on the ground of petitioning lie.
He is tardy in seizing on those who rebel;
And does not excuse-bringers rudely repel.
If wrathful at deeds that are loathsome to sight,
When you've penitent turned, "It is past," He will write
Should one seek with a father in strife to engage,
The father would doubtless exhibit much rage.
If kinsman with kinsman should jangle and fight,
Like an alien, he drives him away from his sight.
If a slave who is active should useless appear,
The lord of the work will not reckon him dear.
If a man towards comrades should sympathy shun,
Any comrade a league from his presence will run.
Should a soldier decline to serve longer the State,
The Royal Commander resigns him to Fate.-
But the Lord of the Sky and the Earth's rugged skin,
On none shuts the door of subsistence, for sin.
Like a drop in the ocean of knowledge, are seen
Both His worlds, and the faults, He sees, kindly, He'll screen.
The Earth's crust is His banquet, for "high" and for “low”;
At this feast free to all, what of friend? What of foe?
Had He hurried in tyrannous acts to engage,
Who would have been safe from the hand of His rage?
His Person admits not of rival nor kin;
His realm needs not service from man nor from Jinn.1
To worship His mandates all men and things vie—
The offspring of Adam, the bird, ant, and fly.
So spacious a table of merciful fare
He provides, that the Simurgh of Kaff2 eats a share.
The Creator is mercy-diffusing and kind,
For He helps all His creatures and knows ev'ry mind.
In Him self-reliance and grandeur you see,
For His kingdom is old and His nature is free.
On one's head He deposits Prosperity's crown;
Another to dust from a throne He brings down.
The head-dress of bliss may one's temples adorn;
On the breast of another Grief's blanket is worn.
Out of fire, for the Friend, He a rose-garden makes ;
To Hell-fire, from the Nile, He a multitude takes.
1 Finn, a demon or fiend.
2 The Simurgh is a fabulous bird of great size, corresponding to the Griffin or Phoenix, and supposed to be able to devour forty elephants at a meal. The mountains of Kaff, among which the simurgh lived, were supposed to surround the world.
3 The story is that when Abraham, called "the Friend," was cast into the fire by Nimrod, God changed the fire into a flower-garden.
If the former, it tokens His grace to each one;
If the latter, it signs that His will must be done!
In rear of the screen He perceives actions vile;
With a goodness His own He conceals them, the while.
If to menace He seizes the sword of command,
The Angels around Him all deaf and dumb stand.
If He issues a notice of bountiful fare,
The Devil himself says, "I'll bear off a share."
On His threshold of favour and grandeur, the great
Have cast from their heads Earthly splendour and state.
To those who are helpless His mercy is near;
And suppliants' prayers He is willing to hear.
The state of things hidden His knowledge lays bare;
Of secrets unspoken His insight's aware.
By His power He holds Heav'n and Earth in His sway;
He is Lord of the Court of the Great Judgment Day.
Not a back can away from His servitude break ;
In His writings no finger can point a mistake.
The Eternal Well-Doer, admiring good ways,
In the womb with Fate's pencil a figure portrays.
The moon and the sun from the East to the West
He despatched, and spread land on the deep Ocean's crest.
From trembling, the Earth became feeble and shocked,
Through its skirt, then, the nail-looking mountains He
knocked.
To the "Water" a fairy-like form He imparts;
Who else practised on water the sculptor's fine arts?
In stones He sets rubies and turquoise enow,
And the ruby-like rose on the turquoise-like bough.
A drop He cast down from a cloud to the Deep,
And brought seed from the loins to its uterine keep.
The story of taking a multitude to hell from the Nile refers to the Egyptians following the Israelites into the Red Sea and being drowned. Water: the word in the original means semen.
He makes from that drop a pearl shining so bright,
And a form from this seed, like the cypress in height.
Not an atom of knowledge from Him is concealed,
For the hidden to Him is the same as revealed.
He furnishes food for the snake and the ant;
Though some have no limbs and of pow'r are but scant.
He ordered, and something from nothing arose ;
Who something from nothing but He could disclose?
Again to nonentity's hiding He flings us,
And thence to the plain of the Judgment He brings us.
A nature Divine, to Him people concede;
But His nature's true state all are helpless to read.
The extent of His glory, no mortal has found;
His exquisite beauty, no vision can bound.
O'er His nature the bird of swift thought cannot fly;
To the skirt of His praise Reason's hand comes not nigh.
In this whirlpool have sunk ships a thousand and more,
Of which not a plank ever got to the shore.
Many nights in this temple I've sat in surmise,
When Astonishment seizing my sleeve, said, " Arise !"
The Royal One's knowledge can ev'rything clasp ;
Your conception wants scope to take Him in its grasp.
His nature, so subtle, perception can't trace ;
The mind can't His worth by reflection embrace.
A man with Suhban,1 may in eloquence vie ;
None, the Matchless and Holy, to measure can try.
For the Chosen have driven their steeds in this race,
And exceeding account, have been tired by the pace.
One can't gallop his horse over every field,
For at times he is forced to surrender his shield.
1 Suhban-Wail, a poet and orator of Arabia, stated by Sádi in the Gulistan to be so eloquent that he never repeated the same word in a discourse. There is a play on the words Suhbān and Subhan, the latter word referring to God.
When the mystical secret a traveller knows,
The door that was open, behind him they close.
To a man in this feast they deliver the cup,
That the potion, depriving of sense, he may sup.
Stitched up are the eyes of one falcon with care;
The eyes of another are open and glare.
To the treasure of Korah1 no trav'ller e'er hied,
Who, if he got there, could return when he tried.
The wise are afraid of this ocean of blood,
For no person has yet saved his ship from its flood.
If desire should allure you to travel this plain;
First, the horse-of-returning take care to retain !
If within the heart's mirror reflection you make,
Of Purity's fruit, by degrees, you'll partake.
Love's perfume, perhaps, so enamours your brain,
That from courting the "Promise" 2
you cannot refrain.
To the first, by the feet of Inquiring you'll hie;
And from this, on the wings of Affection you'll fly.
The curtains of Fancy are torn up by Truth;
A curtain, save glory, remains not, for sooth!
Should the charger of Wisdom fail pace to command,
Astonishment seizes the reins, saying,
"Stand!
Save the Prophet,' no person has travelled this Deep;
He was lost who in rear of the Guide did not keep.
All those who in error have swerved from the way,
Heavy-laden with sorrow have wandered astray.
'Gainst the Prophet, whoever has chosen to strive,
At the refuge need never expect to arrive.
Oh, Sádi! don't think the pure path you can tread,
Unless by the good Mustăphã3 you are led!"
1 Korah was supposed to be a cousin of Moses, noted for his riches.
2 The Promise-—Alăst-bărbákăm-" Am I not thy God?"
3 Mustapha, the Chosen, a name of Mohamed.
|