Tabriz. The Bark
تبریز. فُلک
Clouds over city said,
"We are too the yellow, red
Mounts, hillocks of Tabriz;
We are too the tinted dreams..."
I am sitting by the Gate
As a viewless, moveless shade,
"Ah, why not to stroll, I hope
In my absence Gate won't fall..."
In the hills I went to ramble,
Clouds, hills at evening blended...
Yet, not far a bark I see,
Seaman seems in it to be...
What is seeking here lonely
Seaman this upon the stony
Ground..? "Come and see..."
I read...
The milky bark upon the yellow
Flank of hill... "Upon the shallow
Sate, it seems..." I thought;
Dervish in it with a rod
Is sitting, fishing; sings:
Un soir, t'en souvient-il? nous voguions en silence;
On n'entendait au loin, sur l'onde et sous les cieux,
Que le bruit des rameurs qui frappaient en cadence
Tes flots harmonieux.
Alphonse de Lamartine
Dervish: Hist! Don't stir the atmosphere, -
A high catch is here!
Me: But here is no water, what
Are you catching in this spot?
Dervish:
وبمثل مَن يسمع وقلبه مشغول
عن المسموع بما يضرّه عما ينفعه
And like unto him who is listening, but
his heart is busy with something else, -
therefore the listening be of no avail.
Al-Makki
Yet methinks the city dust
Got into thine eyes, alas...
The affairs, talks, ado
Filled thy heart with soot.
But look!
Waves are swaying bark of mine,
I am catching here rhymes...
وكلّ قلبٍ ملوَّث بحبّ الدنيا
فسماعُه طبعٍ وتكلّف
The very heart smudged with love of this world, -
its listening is muddy and coarse.
Umar Suhrawardi
Thy heart - enchanted cube,
To spoil it not - you should
Preserve it always from all vain,
That Spirit in it may
Live...
Me: But how to regain again the state?
Dervish:
بحر میگوید به دستِ راست خور
ز آبِ من ای کور تا یابی بصر
Saith the Sea, "Drink right
Water Mine, O blind, to gain sight."
Rumi, Masnavi 2:1120
With th' elixir pitcher take,
And drain it, drain! Away
The stream will steal ye, ah,
In the abstraction soaring Sah...
"My eyes and ears take
To see and hear well My waves!"
The Ocean said, "For that
Th' elixir drink..."
Me: Remembrance, prayer, poesy?
Dervish: You rightly speak...
But ye forgot
The solitude amid the rocks...
فإذا أمِنَ العبدُ الفتنة والكلامَ
فيما لا يعنيه، والاستماع إلى شبهة
من القول، وأمِنَ من النظرِ إلى ما يكره
أو يشغله عن الذكر، أو يذكّره الدنيا...
وهذا حينئذ أفضل له وأجمعُ لقلبه
When the servant is safe from
the temptation, the words which are of no
concern to him, the listening of empty talks;
When he is safe from looking at that,
what he dislikes, or what diverts
him from the Remembrance of God,
or what entices him into this world...
Then it is the best for him,
and for his heart.
Al-Makki
Thy heart preserve and watch your state!
It is the most important on this stage...
May 2020
Abu Talib Al-Makki, The Sustenance of Hearts 1
قوت القلوب في معاملة المحبوب
Umar Suhrawardi, The Knowledge of the Spiritually Learned
عوارف المعارف
Translations from Arabic and Farsi
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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