Baghdad. The Fog
غرائب الأمر عند الغرباء
Strange marvels
strangers possess.¹
Ibn 'Arabi
By the river piece of verse
In the morning fog had found,
"Letter - shelter is the first,
I may hide in it from crowd..."
Thought the fog on water looking,
"I shall make the Ha my house..."
By my door the bird is cooing,
"River riddle did forget..."
In the window moon is moveless, -
Question-mark perhaps...
To the river then I went,
And have brought the song of bird.
Water for me did reflect,
"'Mid the leaves of ochre search!"
I began to scan and seek...
Neither this, nor that, at last
I have found yellow leaf
With the verse by Al-Hallaj:
هم أهل السرِّ و للأسرار قد خُلقوا
لا يصبرون على ما كان فحَّاشا
They are the men of mystery, for mysteries created, they
Iniquity don't tolerate.
Al-Hallaj, Poem 5
The lines I uttered, knocked, "Unlock!"
- Who's there knocking, what the guest?
Replied behind the door the fog.
- Who travels between East and West.
Fog: Come in...
Into the fog I entered, space
Of changing images; beneath
The shade of absent tree I sate,
And mist sat next to me...
Sheikh: The men of mysteries are they -
The dwellers of the foggy space.
قوم دیگر سخت پنهان می‌روند
شهرهٔ خلقانِ ظاهر کی شوند؟
The other creatures lurk around,
For commoners to see them, how?
Rumi, Masnavi 3:3104
This place is where? -
In letter Ha ه.
To find it how? -
Become Hua هو.
إذا تجلى الحبيب
بأي عين تراه
بعينه لا بعيني
فما يراه سواه
When the Beloved hath emerged,
How will you see Him, say...
- With th' eyes of Him, with mine not,
To see Him - He only may.²
Ibn 'Arabi
Waystones of fog let's set!
Me:
Jesus saith unto them,
Fill the waterpots with water.
John 2:7
He said, "Fill them with My meanings, words."
Sheikh:
عليكم بالإيمان ثم بالإيقان ثم الفناء
والوجود بالله عز وجل لا بك ولا بغيرك
For you Faith, then Certitude, then Fanā,
and existence by God, omnipotent is He,
not by thee, not by another.
Al-Jilani
When clock will ring, "'tis twelve" -
It is midníght, seek in yourself!
الأول للمتقين، والثاني للأبدال
الواصلين إلى طاعة الله عز وجل
The first - those of Certitude,
the second are Abdāl,
obtaining submission to God, great is He.
Al-Jilani
But look,
The rain began to shade the fog,
The forms forget themselves and swoon;
Is getting silent magic conch,
This talk don't lose...
December 2022
1 Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of Signs of Those of Revelation
كتاب الإعلام بإشارات أهل الإلهام
2 Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of Manifestations
كتاب التجليات
Mansur Al-Hallaj, Diwan
ديوان الحلاج
Abd Al-Qadir Al-Jilani, The Opening of Lordship
الفتح الرباني والفيض الرحماني
Translations from Arabic and Farsi
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
|
