Talk with a Dervish near Tabriz
Me, stray'd echo and the hills;
Cadence high, then cadence low,
Coil the song, then freely streams -
Hills vermeil, orange and gold...
Voice of heaven whispers here
Whether from afar, scarce heard,
Whether eloquently so near;
Here is the land of God,
Of eternal day Sabbath,
Hark and listen, speakest not.
Morning gauze, the hills allure
As if call, yet suddenly
I see a dervish young; for sure,
Some mysteries he shall unveil to me...
He smiled - the sign that I may ask,
After the greeting, thus I said,
"But tell me yet
Of way of thine, a cup
Of water give me fresh..."
Dervish:
غطس الغاطس ليخرج ياقوتها الأحمر،
في صدفة الأزهر،
فخرج إلينا من قعر ذلك البحر
Dives a diver to bring then
A red ruby gem, in shell
Of splendour from the depth
Of sea to us.
Ibn 'Arabi
By a teardrop clear,
By sincere gust of the heart,
After chant I did hear
So near, I spilled, I did plunge
As seagull into water amain
In pursuit of mine own reflex...
Calling depth, impenitrable haze;
Chasm after chasm obscure; perplex'd
Is the mind, in the tie
Gordian twined and did faint...
Only sense, only love, only flight;
I become a moon-fish in the deep; fade
Vanishes strand; mere frail gossamer -
What is left - lest two seas
Mingle not till approach moment set...
Said Ocean to me, "Stream!
To the desert of words, in loneliness stay
Till vessel be filled..."
Many days, many nights like a lay
Resounded, flown... only pearls
Yet remained on the shore...
Me: But respond, tell me yet
Of this gem ruby red...
Dervish:
إن معرفة الياقوت الأحمر أن لا يعرف
ولا يُحَدُّ ولا يوصف
Yet cognition of the red ruby gem is that
Neither known, nor defined, nor described.
Ibn 'Arabi
They are those of sunset, said
One Sufi, "They are present and absent at once."
Chant of a bird from beyond, that
Tender melodious song dissolving the heart.
Each one of them - flame, but veiled...
The flame of excess, abundance of love;
Intoxication - thir state,
They are waves of purity, beauty and bliss...
Six wings they have: with two
They cover their frame, - this means -
Their nature - unfathomable, strange, obscure.
With another pair they
Do cover their face, lest you
Would lost your mind amazed
On having seen their beauty, and
When contemplate the God, they shawl
Thir countenance, unable to bear then
His glimpse... And with another pair they hover,
Fly... A mine - each one of jewelry unique,
Uniqueness is the mark of angel wing'd.
Me: And how then have they become
A spirit blazing, gracious sun?
Dervish:
الفراش يطير حول المصباح إلى الصباح،
ويعود إلى الأشكال
Fly moths till morn
Around lamp and then
Return to form.
Al-Hallaj
Round one: The whiff I am of breeze,
A heart-beat, desire, scud;
I have flung the brown leaves
Off to the foam of ocean; past
Old terra, past the sky,
Quaff'd the cup, I chant the songs;
Turned in music, skim I, fly,
Somnolence forever gone...
O Beloved, I crave, I long
Thaw in Thy eternal grace,
Drain'd another cup, like sot,
I am dancing round Thy flame...
Fading as a fog, draw closer, closer,
None of me is left, anew
Am rewritten I thus hover
Like a moth until consumed...
April 2018
Ibn 'Arabi, The Book of Anqā of the West
كتاب عنقاء مغرب في ختم الأولياء وشمس المغرب
Mansur Al-Hallaj, The Tawasin
الطواسين
Translation from Arabic
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
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