Tabriz. El-Gölü Park
تبریز. ائل گؤلو
Neither gloomy, nor pellucid,
As if a moonlit
Mist at night, or shine
Through glass perspired...
Dark and strange the forms of trees -
Streaming Setar melodies...
Evening this? Or night, or dawn,
Or reverse of time, - beyond?
Mystic lake before me broad,
On the shore forgotten boat,
Olden palace in the mid,
Passage narrow to it lead...
Gleams and shivers light in lamps
From the breath of unseen wraiths.
Sudden haze engulfs the eyes,
Noise of ocean ears strikes;
Nigh, so nigh an apparition vague
Like upheaving surging wave;
Sense evaporated, heart
Gallops as a steed aghast...
Blast of wind, the wings rend haze,
Dimness lambent hides the flame;
Air trembles, boil, before
Me stood six-winged ghost...
Nought the place, nor space, nor time
No more exist in instant this, but light;
Even I-the-soul dissolved
In the surge of light, as moth
Vanishes from kiss of flame...
Exaltation rash abate,
In dim light, in front of me
Dervish young with smile I see...
"Do not speak, but just inhale
Savour of this magic lake..."
Spake he, "Learn to listen secrecy,
Silently, the hidden meaning, be
Not one among those heedless; read
The Holy Writ, for it has meaning plain,
And veiled, concealed, and caved."
فحقيقة السمع الفهم عن الله
فيما يتلوه عليك سبحانه وتعالى
But listening indeed is understanding of what God
Imparts unto thee, praised is He and exalted.
Ibn 'Arabi
These words are gates, but latch'd and lock'd
From common wingless birds,
But those who can ride the clouds,
Who dwell in caverns of the mounts,
Can step, and pass through doors arcane,
And enter mystery, - the state
Of visions, when before thine eyes, in mind appear
A like of images, or speech, or clear
Reality as if reflex'd on lake...
This state - when you in words dissolved away...
Me: But say, and tell what are three books?
Dervish:
They are Qur'an, Old Testament, and Gospel; and
Another meaning: Holy Writ, the World, and Man.
Remember then, that reading - drinking be
Of water which transforms, so even if
You read unconsciously without
Understanding Holy Scriptures, fount
Of light invoked thy soul o'whelm,
While you are unaware; Realm
Of mystery - the living words
Are Jesus - Word of God.
And know, the more you pure, lucid be,
The more from husk the heart released, -
The further, further shall fly ye...
Described in Writ thus every state -
From base to elevated - ladder way.
Pale, of brittle rosy tint,
Lake reflected dream by dream:
Creeping course of foamy clouds
Everchanging; Branches in a gust pursuing howl
Of wind; a skim of shallop lonely with a pair
Of lovers cuddling... Misty air,
Blear outline of moon as dove
Behind a rainy casement; cold
October night, when dry and weary leaves
Lay down, cover lake... But hist!
The chords of Tar resound, stream...
June 2018
Ibn 'Arabi, The Abode of Stars
مواقع النُجوم ومطالع أهلة الأسرار والعلوم
Translation from Arabic
by Denis Bezmelnitsin
|
