Return from Baghdad to Tabriz
بازگشت از بغداد به تبریز
Birds upon the olden tree:
Melodies and trills of parting...
Sad are birds upon the twigs,
Memories as leaves are floating...
Yon remote argent cloud -
From us summer running, where?
Foliage murmuring, joyous, now -
Smouldered, fallen tones of sadness.
Life is so, you don't regard it,
Until bleak October wind
Dispels summer slumber, dreams...
کوزه بودش، آب می‌‌نامَد به دست
آب را چون یافت، خودْ کوزه شِکست
A vessel he had, alack, water he couldn't find,
When water he found, the vessel rived.
Rumi, Masnavi 1:43
Wind is blowing cold and bitter,
River frowns, dark... The leaves -
Melancholy fallen, withered, -
In the seething flow it sinks...
Spring and Summer are for seeking,
Filling vessel, making; When
Autumn comes and cup is empty, -
Who will give thee life again?
'Tis the meaning of this season -
To remind thee - life is fleeting...
In the trees the tissue tangled
Of the cloud drowsy; Wavering
Branches stir the cloud -
Spumy, moving mass around
The coppice of bewitching trees;
Spins the cloud and increase,
And the trees continue invocation,
Saying, saying incantation...
Waves of cloud gulfed the streets;
In the fog I walk, it seems,
From all sides the eyes are looking,
Yet I see a figure looming,
Drawing closer, closer tó me...
Half transparent, in electric rays,
Yet before me - spirit - Sheikh.
Sheikh: Sad are birds upon the tree,
Chant of parting they
Sing, and sing, and wind repeat,
"Calling back the Heaven's Gate..."
Me: Ah 'tis so...
I hear well in heart this call...
Sheikh: Although, listen! For thee I
Have some advice:
هر که ماند از کاهلی بی شُکر و صبر
او همین داند که گیرد پایِ جَبر
The gratitude and patience who lacks from laxity, -
He knows that flow of doom took him.
Rumi, Masnavi 1:1071
When torrent comes, thou hast to choose
To be borne, and fall as all, or to
Turn to God, and trust in Him...
In each trial reason be,
But hear what He wants from thee!
ومن كان العلم سائسَه في الظاهر
والباطن لا يتم ذلك له إلا إذا كان
الصبر مستقره ومسكنه
For whom knowledge is guide, ouside
and within, it can only be perfected by
patience, - if 'twill be his dwelling place.
Umar Suhrawardi
What is patience then? It is
Constant learning, working, and perfecting; When
Passive waiting is but sleep...
Look at the result of track,
Rely upon the God who leads...
وحقيقة الصبر تظهر من طمأنينة النفس،
وطمأنينتها من تزكيتها، وتزكيتها بالتوبة؛
فالنفس إذا تركّت بالتوبة النصوح زالت عنها
الشراسة الطبيعية، وقلّة الصبر من وجوه
الشراسة للنفس وإبائها واستعصائها
The aim of patience is in the serenity of soul,
and its serenity is from its purification,
and its purification is by repentance.
When the soul is stired by sincere contrition, -
from her the coarse nature fades.
When lack of patience is from coarseness
of the soul, its negligence and disobeyance.
Umar Suhrawardi
The potter makes a vessel, how?
By turning slowly wheel... A round,
Then again, a shape thus forming...
The wheel of years slowly turning,
Something increasing and decreasing,
Joining or removing pieces...
Unless in hands of Master be
The vessel perfect and unique...
والإيمان بلا طهارة الظاهر والباطن لا ينفع
والصبر بلا توكل لا يصح
والتقوى بلا توبة لا تنجح
Faith without inward and outward purification is vain,
Patience without trust in God is indeed fake;
Devotion without repentance is of no avail.
Ibn 'Arabi
When sail is hoisted, galley may
Cross seas and oceans, then
Find at last the treasure, but
Thine ardour is the sail...
وقال الجنيد: التوكّل أن تكون لله
كما لم تكن، فيكون الله لك كما لم يزل
Al-Junayd said: The trust in God it is
when ye belong to God as if
thy self does not exist...
Then God will be for thee without surcease.
Related by Umar Suhrawardi
The stone dun of moon he gave
To me, "Take this, it is for thee!"
Said Sheikh, then frail
Vision-dream
Dissolved... Alone among the hills
Familiar me has left
Near Tabriz, perplexed...
October 2019
Umar Suhrawardi, The Knowledge of the Spiritually Learned
عوارف المعارف
Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of Cleaving the Breast
with the Knowledge Arcane
كتاب شق الجيب بعلم الغيب
Translations from Farsi and Arabic
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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