Bezmelnitsin's Gallery :: Denis Bezmelnitsin : "Konya. The Sombre Stone"

Denis Bezmelnitsin

Konya. The Sombre Stone
The stone sombre-deep I tipp,
So dun and silent, why?
- Who dares into me to steep?
I am an hour some of night...

I took candle, made a step.
Owl from the bushes, "Hoot!"
Yet my fingers tipped the web,
Yet again, "He came to loot!"

To the left I slid amid
Polished rocks upon the lane,
But the lane was loath to lead...
- Further I won't show, nor say!

"I shall hide behind the clod!"
In return I said...
"I shall hide in olden clock!"
The hour said on that.

Then I sped afraid to miss...
"Do forgive and let..."
Soon I saw between the cliffs
A crevice beckons black...

There was stony, cold, and deep...
- A moonfish is swimming, look!
To the voice at once I did
Hurry as I could...

"Let's feed a fish!" I heard. A form
I saw of book...
A hand was turning pages. On
The eightth commanded, "Look!"

Me: The Hand is carrying boat...

Dervish: The carrying of the boat - reward.

Me: "The deep I've seen!" A mirror said.

"The mirror in my net!"
A seaman cheerful cried...

Dervish: A seaman looks on moon, the while
The moon - at Sea...

فإن الأذواق تختلف باختلاف المراتب

Perception¹ differs according to rank.
Ibn 'Arabi

Me: Tell me of the deep...

Dervish: The layers there be...

ولكل طبقة ذوق لا تعلمه الطبقة
الأخرى ولهذا قال الخضر لموسى
عليه السلام: «وكيف تصبر على
ما لم تحط به خبراً؟». والخَبْر
[هو] الذوق، وهو علم حال.

For every rank - a perception, unknown to
another rank. Therefore Khadir said
to Moses, peace be upon him, "And how
canst thou be patient with that,
thou hast no knowlegde of?"
And "knowledge" here is "perception" -
it is the knowledge of state.
Ibn 'Arabi

June 2025

1 ذوق - direct tasting, perception.

Ibn 'Arabi, The Meccan Revelations, Part 2
الفتوحات المكية

Translation from Arabic
by Denis Bezmelnitsin