Baghdad. Tomb of Mansur Al-Hallaj
بغداد. مرقد الشيخ منصور الحلاج
Traces left by whiff of evening -
Wan and frail as breath...
In the basket I have gleaned it,
Maybe song I'll plash...
In the sky a sound spilt -
An unclear greenish-grey...
Spell or magic or between?
Feeling of a somnolénce...
Took my hand the melting evening,
Leadeth me along the street;
Olden walls as if are sleeping;
Basket mine is full of sleep...
Whirling, whirling in half-slumber,
Through the walls as ghost I pass;
Moon is crooning, lonely chanter,
"Come and be with us..."
Tide of sleep me whelmed, on strand
I am walking... Voice of sea
Well I hear near... Tell
Me why the desert rocky - all I see...
- Isn't it a place where can
Be heard the sea? To me
Was a response. "My boat
Is almost broken..." I exclaimed.
- Isn't it a state
In which the sea can be
Heard..? Was a reply. Dim light
In chamber, faint and fading green...
I see the sarcophagus like
A vision-dream of sleep, but it
Upon the water stands in chapel small,
Around is sea... "A seeker lost
As boat the waters deep amid..."
Before me Sheikh is standing like
A strange, ephemeral beam of light.
Sheikh: You sought it there ouside,
But in your sleep this tomb you found
Upon the shoreless brine...
وخُضْتُ بحراً و لم يرسب به قدمي
خاضَتْهُ روحي و قلبي منه مرغوب
I plunged in the sea, but didn't tip it my feet,
For my spirit did plunge, and my heart is desired from it.
Al-Hallaj, Poem 2
The vessel filled with words antique,
A sea began in it to speak...
Me: When understanding fails -
I only can pronounce Ah...
Sheikh:
حَصْبَاؤُه جوهرٌ لم تَدْنُ منه يدٌ
لكن بِيَدِ الأفهام منهوب
Every stone in it is a gem, cannot grasp it a hand,
With the hand of understanding ye'll never it get.
Al-Hallaj, Poem 2
Ah and why do you
The fishing-rod of logic threw
Into the water odd, obscure?
What shall ye catch, maybé
A dizziness only...
Me: But what to do? Tell me...
Sheikh:
مَا زَاغَ الْبَصَرُ وَمَا طَغَىٰ
The sight did not waver, nor did it exceed.
Qur'an 53:17
Just listen and behold, and all
What is for thee on this degree, -
The Spirit will disclose...
But holy is this Shrine and Gate
Of the ecstatic love, but hark:
واسمك أين يخرج من البحر
Thy Name is whence you shall come from the sea.
Ibn 'Arabi
Me: O master, can you shew the way..?
Sheikh:
سكوتٌ ثم صمتٌ ثم خَرْسُ
و عِلْمٌ ثم وَجْدٌ ثم رَمْس
The calmness, then silence, then dumbness;
The knowledge, then longing, then mound.
Al-Hallaj, Poem 4
In silence the signs open up and speak,
The speech in silence the power gains,
The summit of silence when God speak with ye;
The filling kindles longing flame...
I sail from sea to sea and fill my keel,
And thus at last the mound of mysteries I am.
و طينٌ ثم نارٌ ثم نورٌ
و بردٌ ثم ظلّ ثم شمس
The clay, then flame, then light;
The cold, then shadow, then sun.
Al-Hallaj, Poem 4
It is sown a natural body;
it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body,
there is also a spiritual one.
1 Corinthians 15:44
How apprentice does become a master?
How mirror does become a sun?
و حَزْنٌ ثم سهل ثم قَفْرٌ
و نهر ثم بَحْرٌ ثم يَبْس
The grief, then heath, then desert;
The river, then sea, then dryness.
Al-Hallaj, Poem 4
Sullenness, then bird is calling,
Some not regard, and some responding.
A sleeper, then a seeker, master then;
But lions in the desert dwell...
O desert, tell me what do thou
Hide in thy valley sandy, say...
- Something mine profound,
And something yours, Responded waste,
"The silence - thine, and mine - the sea,
But listen, waves are coming, flee...
Upon the shore of loneliness only
Is heard the voice of water rolling...
This shore - is bank of desert, place
Where flesh is fading, spirit growing
Until be manifested Name."
My chest I filled with melodies,
Midnight ancient mysteries...
I dispersed in letter, and
Crystallized in rhymes, congealed
Spirit mine in lines, - my breath...
Thus I dried, become a stone;
Rolling sea revealed itself and froze
In the verses, strophes, lines...
Me: But why the stone? Say...
Sheikh: Because inert it is, only
If you come, - 'twill speak...
و سكر ثم صَحْوٌ ثم شوقٌ
و قرب ثم وفر ثم إِنْس
The drunkness, then sobriety, then passion;
The proximity, then abundance, then verity.
Al-Hallaj, Poem 4
But Name of God in heart pronounce!
I did it seven times, or more...
The warmth, the bursting light in sounds
Flashed, the strain entrancing flow
And whirls, and whelms, and ebb...
I am become romance-sunset...
As sots - the Sheikh and I
Are whirling, whirling on the brine...
The clouds o'er us, or below?
The music encompasses all...
The voice arcane commanded, "Now,
On earth return as the horizon bound!"
- Ah what a pain from heaven to
Be back again in greyish gloom...
What shall I do? To stroll and sing
From longing of what I have seen...
Sheikh:
The vision ye have outlived
Is verse unfolded this...
And thus the heart who filled with ink
Of Nun - became the pen...
و قَبْضٌ ثم بسط ثم مَحْوٌ
و فرق ثم جمع ثم طَمْس
The detention, then expansion, then erasure;
The separation, then union, then effacement.
Al-Hallaj, Poem 4
And anow another vision:
Pent in waste, my legs are bound,
I am creeping on the ground
Hot and arid, rare clouds
Give me shade and rain, but walls
From the very side around
Captivated me, and bolts
Me hit and left half-breathing...
Loneliness in drear dimness...
"Drink the rain and tears until
Grow the wings, and lake be filled!"
Echo said to me remote,
Thus along the desert rove
I seeking, filling lake...
For eternity - the jail...
Sheikh:
He will take from you thy sighs,
But will give His Name divine,
If ye fulfill... We call it rose
Red... At first
You are, then thou and sea,
And then the Name of sea...
و إخْدٌ ثم ردٌ ثم جذب
و وصف ثم كشف ثم لبس
The ploughing, then return, then ecstasy;
The attributes, then unveiling, then mantle.
Al-Hallaj, Poem 4
There was a stony soil and stiff,
But something good in it was hid.
Decreed the God to His chief knight
To plough it, return to light...
Had opened lord the gape of hell,
Commanded, "Hey, the creatures wick'd,
For sowing soil prepare well,
Until be meek!"
From woes the soil implored and cried,
"But why, and when the end will be
Of pain and misery..?"
- When ye will change! Replied
The angel-lord.
When all fulfilled, and deeds
Are made, then mantle will be meed.
August 2019
Mansur Al-Hallaj, Diwan
ديوان الحلاج
Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of the Seeing
كتاب الشاهد
Translation from Arabic
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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