Journey to Balkh
سفر به بلخ
On the slope a boat among
The stones swart I found...
On the snow broken hull, -
Waning crescent drowns...
Snow had stolen all tracks,
All ways under lock...
At the yellow sunsét
I set sail on my boat...
By the stone I had left
Written verse on the snow,
There, maybe, one day
Northern lilies will grow...
Called me echo by name,
Plash of wave, or maybé..?
Called me echo again,
The master I see...
Scholar: On this sea of Fanā so far
Away from the strand...
But take this talismán!
'Twill help...
Me: Thank you, master!
Scholar: So...
The story yet untold:
وأعجب ما سمعتُ فى هذا:
أن موسى عليه السلام سأل الخضر:
بأى شىءٍ بلغت هذه المنزلة؟
فقال: بترك المعاصى كلها
The most amazing what I heard of this:
That Moses, peace be upon him, asked Al-Khadir,
"How hast thou reached this rank?"
He answered, "I have left
all the transgressions."
Al-Makki
At sea...
Whate'er whether be -
Rely upon the wind...
أسلم ثم تب ثم تعلم واعمل
وأخلص وإلا فلا تهدى
Submit, then repent, then learn, and work,
and be sincere, or otherwise
you won't be guided.
Al-Jilani
Not every wind is sweet, -
A patience you need
To know the goal of it...
قابلوا العسر بالصبر واليسر بالشكر
معنى الصبر أنك لا تشكو إلى أحد ولا
تتعلق بسبب ولا تكره وجود البلية
They accept hardship by patience,
ease by thankfulness.
The meaning of patience - that
you don't complain to anyone,
don't find reasons, and
don't hate the hardship.
Al-Jilani
Four bays you'll meet:
The bay of cold,
The bay of heat,
The bay of thirst,
And the bay of broken boat.
زَرِّ قلب و زَرِّ نیکو در عِیار
بی‌‌مِحَک هرگز نَدانی ز اِعْتِبار
The test is needed for the gold pure and fake,
You shall never know its worth without assay.
Rumi, Masnavi 1:299
But ah... we have to part!
The last remark:
وقال أبو يزيد قلت يا رب بما
اتقرب إليك فقال بما ليس لي
قلت وما ليس لك قال الذلة والافتقار
Abu Yazid said: I implored, "O Lord!
How can I get closer to Thee?"
He replied, "By means of what is not
Mine." I asked, "But what is it?"
He answered, "Humility and dependence on Me."
Ibn 'Arabi
Then melted vision, wind arose,
The clouds dark my bark beset;
Disturbance into water strode,
The noise is boding a shipwreck...
I bail the galley out, but
In dashing waves, "Alack, alack..."
My boat in water noisy, dun
Is sinking, and repeats, "Alack..."
The talisman I took, on it
The verse is written in Farsi:
آن زمان که می‌‌شَوی بیمارْ تو
می‌‌کُنی از جُرم اِسْتِغْفارْ تو
When you become sick,
Then repent of your sin.
Rumi, Masnavi 1:627
The words of prayer said in heart,
The billows heave, my mirror broke;
The rock I see 'mid billows dark,
Amid the storm of snow...
Upon the crag a man in blue
Mantle at me look...
The Hooded one: It seems the mirror split...
Me: Good time of night, it is...
The Hooded one: Let me to see, maybé
We can something do...
Me: Thank you,
Yes, of course...
Then as a ghost
He had emerged upon my bark,
It did bob up...
The Hooded one: Take mirror's riven part,
Into the sea it cast!
One eye of thine should be
Always in the deep:
To look at the unseen...
February 2022
Abu Talib Al-Makki, The Sustenance of Hearts 2
قوت القلوب في معاملة المحبوب
Abd Al-Qadir Al-Jilani, The Opening of Lordship
الفتح الرباني والفيض الرحماني
Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of Interpretations
كتاب التراجم
Translations from Arabic and Farsi
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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