Tabriz. Evening in the Park
تبریز. شام اندر پارک
Melted snow in olden park,
Melted frozen whisper; dark,
And hanging, clammy evening;
Trees expire in its breathing...
"Visions are we, and illusions,
Of the shadows interfusion..."
They are saying, fading... "Echo -
In the darkness tangled echo..."
"I have brought the pots of vagueness,"
Spilled it evening late, thus saying...
Violet and blue deluged...
Outlines did shiver in this flood...
"We are ripple on the water,
Trace of fog almost forgotten
In the murkiness..." Sang trees.
Yet I feel the scented breeze...
"Evening dreamy good, I too,
Love this park... At darkening to
Stroll along, behold and listen..."
Greeted dervish me...
Me: Good evening, spirit kind,
Reveal to me what evening hide...
Dervish:
نَشْنَود آن نَغمهٔ پری را آدمی
کو بُوَد ز اسْرارِ پریان اَعْجَمی
Will not hear the Peri's singing a man
Who is not privy to mystery that.
Rumi, Masnavi 1:1924
A shadow's murmur who will hear?
Who shall espy the sighs of mere?
The cuneiforms of rain on casement -
Who shall read these misty letters?
We call it language of the birds, -
Indeed it is the breath of God...
The very day His breath mystíc
Does write for us calligraphy...
But who shall read..?
المشاهدة حظ الملك صرفا،
لو كان عرقاً قائماً بذات العبد
لم يستحق المشاهدة
Vision is the quality of pure angel.
If in the essence of servant there is any blot -
he deserves the vision not.¹
Nuri²
The spell of frail and fleeting moment, -
Of hour fragile adornment...
As fume is fugitive, the speech
Mystíc on letters split:
The rolling trees, and reed's reflex
On water... Thoughts are floating sad -
The greyish laying clouds... But
Behind it - hidden meaning, hark!
فالتجلي الصوري في حضرة الخيال
محتاج إلى علم آخر يدرك به ما
أراد الله تعالى بتلك الصورة
Imagery in the realm of dreams
requires another knowledge to understand
what God wants with this image.³
Ibn 'Arabi
Some visions - pure music, it -
What poets hear, see, and read...
It is the soul of moment - breath,
We call it fragrant scent...
Some have a meaning hid,
Some are enigmas, mysteries
Foreshowing what shall be...
ومعنى التعبير الجواز من صورة
ما رآه إلى أمر آخر
The interpretation is a shift
from the image seen to another meaning.³
Ibn 'Arabi
All around symbols be,
But not all it see...
The sign is silent what about? -
The mirror clear will expound...
First bird is dove, then comes a crow...
عالم الخيال وهي الأنوار المتجسدة
الدالة على معان وراءها، فإن الخيال
ينزل المعاني العقلية في القوالب
الحسية كالعلم في صورة اللبن
The world of dreams is the embodied lights
pointing at the meaning behind it.
By means of dreams the intelligible meanings
descend in the sensual forms,
like knowledge in the image of milk.⁴
Ibn 'Arabi
I wonder upon those
To whom even if will speak the voice
From heaven, they
Shall disbelieve, and say,
"Unusual phenomenon of air..."
November 2019
1 Abu al-Hussain al-Nuri
2 Al-Junayd, The Mystery of Breaths in Sufism
الجنيد، السر في أنفاس الصوفية
by
الدكتور عبدالبارى محمد داود
أ.د جودة محمد أبو اليزيد المهدى
3 Ibn 'Arabi, The Seals of Wisdom
فصوص الحكم
4 Ibn 'Arabi, The Epistle to Imam Al-Rāzi
رسالة إلى الإمام الرازي
Translations from Arabic and Farsi
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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