Termez. Fayaz Tepe
I turn the pages, yet a phrase,
"Why running so apace?"
"I beg you pardon, but..." I said.
- To rest in yonder clock me let...
"As you would like!" I have agreed.
- The hour I'm candlelit...
A noise I heard in olden clock.
- But lo! The bolt I now unlock!
The letter "O" before me grew.
- Plunge into that to get into...
As if from brae I made a leap,
Beneath I felt a second deep.
"For you the book we can unshut!"
Said massive shadow, "but
The answer give: A bitten crow."
- "Incautiously alighted down..."
In return I said. A cell
Was the bottom of the well.
"I'm a seal within a conch,
Bottom this to me belong..."
Said the stupa, "Look what the
Relic I conceal!" To me
A volume on some page
Opened. So upon the stage
There were three:
رأيت حوضاً كبيراً في موضع لا أعرفه. وماء الحوض
صاف كماء العين. فيظهر على ذلك الحوض [في]
رأس الماء، عناقيد عنب، بيض كلها. وانا واختيَّ قعود
على رأس ذلك الحوض، نأخذ من ذلك العنب فنأكله،
واقدامنا متدلية في الحوض، موضوعة على ظهر
الماء، لا ترسب ولا تغيب. فأقول لاختي الصغرى:
نحن نأكل من هذا العنب كما ترين، فمن يرسل هذا
الينا؟ - فا [ذا] برجل مقبل، جَعْد، وقد تعمم بعمامة
بيضاء، وقد أرخى شعره من خلف العمامة، وعليه
ثياب بياض. فيقول لي: لمن مثل هذا الحوض،
ومثل هذا العنب؟ - ثم يأخذ بيدي، فيقيمني فيقول
لي، بمعزل منهما: قولي لمحمد بن علي ان لا يقرأ
〈ونضع الموازين القسط ليوم القيامة〉 حتى يتم الآية.
لا يوزن بهذا [الميزان] دقيق ولا خبْر. وانما يوزن
بهذا كلام هذا - ويشير الى لسانه ويوزن بهذا هذا
وهذا - ويشير الى يديه وقدميه. انت لا تعلمين ان
لفضول الكلام سُكراً كسكر الخمر إذا شرب!
[The wife of Al-Tirmidhi narrates:] I saw
a large lake in the place I know not.
The water in it - as pure as in the spring.
And on the water emerge the bunches of
grapes, - all of them - white. My sister and
me are sitting on the surface of that lake,
taking from it and eat grapes. On the water
we sit, nor sink neither drown, our legs
are dipped into the lake. Then I say to my
young sister, "We eat these grapes as you
see, but who has sent it to us?" Then at once
we saw a man with curly hair, clad in a white
turban, out of which his locks were pouring
down. His garment was white. He says to me,
"For whom are the lake like this, and the
grapes like these?" - Then my hand he takes,
rises me, and says aloof from my sister,
"My words are for Muhammad bin Ali:
Haven't you read «And We set the scales of
justice for the Day of Resurrection»¹ till
the end of Ayat. Not the flour nor the grain
to be weighed on these scales, but these
words!" - And he pointed at his tongue.
"And this, and this to be weighed!" - And he
pointed at his hands and legs. "Don't you
know, that from empty words is intoxication
like that from wine!"
Al-Hakim Al-Tirmidhi
Lady: Apart from him I eat the grapes...
Wizard: Because a promise - it and lake.
Lady: My sister you invited though...
Wizard: Next dwellers of your town
Will have a share as well.
Lady: But we have not a lot to sell...
Wizard: No coins we need from ye, but that:
What you have said,
What you have made,
What you have learnt upon the way.
Further what has been? Upon
The scene a figure I discern
Saying, "Many you've already viewed!
We can answer if you would..."
Me: The turban which he hath...
Seer: His knowledge of Qur'an is vast.
Me: Her hand he took...
Seer: Listen well, obey and look!
For we shall guide...
Me: The grapes emerging white
On water this...
Seer: Blank verse, perhaps, it is:
Вода живая - Дух, источник воды живой - Бог,
чтобы ты, когда узнаешь источник, понял,
откуда вода живая.
The living water is Spirit, the source of
the living water is God. That when you shall
recognize the source, you may understand
where the living water is from.
St. John Chrysostom
May 2026
1 Qur'an, Sura "The Prophets": 47
Al-Hakim Al-Tirmidhi, The Seal of the Saints
ختم الأولياء
St. John Chrysostom, Commentary on the Psalms
Собеседование о псалмах
Translations from Arabic and Russian
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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