Confused and distraught
Again I am raging, I am in such a state by
your soul that every
bond you bind, I break, by your soul.
I
am like heaven, like the moon, like a candle by your glow; I am
all
reason, all love, all soul, by your soul.
My joy is of
your doing, my hangover of your thorn; whatever
side you turn
your face, I turn mine, by your soul.
I spoke in error; it is
not surprising to speak in error in this
state, for this
moment I cannot tell cup from wine, by your soul.
I am that
madman in bonds who binds the "divs"; I, the madman,
am a
Solomon with the "divs", by your soul.
Whatever form other than
love raises up its head from my
heart, forthwith I drive it
out of the court of my heart, by your soul.
Come, you who have
departed, for the thing that departs
comes back; neither you
are that, by my soul, nor I am that, by your soul.
Disbeliever,
do not conceal disbelief in your soul, for I will recite
the
secret of your destiny, by your soul.
Out of love of Sham-e
Tabrizi, through wakefulness or
nightrising, like a spinning
mote I am distraught, by your
soul.
Reason says, "I will beguile him with the
tongue;"
Love says, "Be silent. I will
beguile him with the soul."
The soul says to the heart, "Go, do
not laugh at me
and yourself. What is there that is not his,
that I may beguile him thereby?"
He is not sorrowful and
anxious and seeking oblivion
that I may beguile him with wine
and a heavy measure.
The arrow of his glance needs not a bow
that I should
beguile the shaft of his gaze with a bow.
He
is not prisoner of the world, fettered to this world
of earth,
that I should beguile him with gold of the kingdom of the
world.
He is an angel, though in form he is a man; he is
not
lustful that I should beguile him with women.
Angels
start away from the house wherein this form
is, so how should I
beguile him with such a form and likeness?
He does not take a
flock of horses, since he flies on wings;
his food is light, so
how should I beguile him with bread?
He is not a merchant and
trafficker in the market of the
world that I should beguile him
with enchantment of gain and loss.
He is not veiled that I
should make myself out sick and
utter sighs, to beguile him
with lamentation.
I will bind my head and bow my head, for I
have got out
of hand; I will not beguile his compassion with
sickness or fluttering.
Hair by hair he sees my crookedness and
feigning; what's
hidden from him that I should beguile him with
anything hidden.
He is not a seeker of fame, a prince addicted
to poets,
that I should beguile him with verses and lyrics and
flowing poetry.
The glory of the unseen form is too great for
me to
beguile it with blessing or Paradise.
Shams-e Tabriz,
who is his chosen and beloved - perchance
I will beguile him
with this same pole of the age.
I have come so that, tugging your
ear, I may draw you to me,
unheart
and unself you, plant you in my heart and soul.
Rosebush, I
have come a sweet springtide unto you, to seize
you very gently
in my embrace and squeeze you.
I have come to adorn you in this
worldly abode, to convey you
above the skies like lovers'
prayers.
I have come because you stole a kiss from an idol
fair; give it
back with a glad heart, master, for I will seize
you back.
What is a mere rose? You are the All1, you
are the speaker of
the command "Say"2 . If no
one else knows you, since you are I, I know you.
You are my
soul and spirit, you are my Fatiha-chanter3, be-
come altogether the Fatiha, so that I may chant
you in my heart.
You are my quarry and game, though you have
sprung from
the snare; return to the snare, and if you will
not, I will drive you.
The lion said to me, "You are a
wonderous deer; be gone! Why
do you run in my wake so swiftly?
I will tear you to pieces."
Accept my blow, and advance like a
hero's shield;
give your ear to naught but the bowstring, that
I may bend you like a bow.
So many thousand stages there are
from earth's bounds to
man; I have brought you from city to
city, I will not leave you by the roadside.
Say nothing, froth
not, do not raise the lid of the cauldron;
simmer well, and be
patient, for I am cooking you.
No, for you are a lion's whelp
hidden in a deer's body: I will
cause you suddenly to
transcend the deer's veil.
You are my ball, and you run in the
curved mallet of my
decree; though I am making you to run, I am
still running in your track.
It is the rule with drunkards to fall upon each
other,
to quarrel, become violent, and make a scene.
The
lover is even worse than a drunkard.
I will tell you what love
is: to enter a mine of gold.
And what is that
gold?
The lover is a king above all kings,
unafraid
of death, not at all interested in a golden crown.
The dervish
has a pearl concealed under his patched cloak.
Why should he go
begging door to door?
Last night that moon came along,
drunk, dropping clothes in the street.
"Get up," I told my
heart, "Give the soul a glass of wine.
The moment has come to
join the nightingale in the garden,
to taste sugar with the
soul-parrot."
I have fallen, with my heart shattered -
where
else but on your path? And I
broke your bowl, drunk, my idol,
so drunk,
don't let me be harmed, take my
hand.
A new rule, a new law has been
born:
break all the glasses and fall toward the
glassblower.
—
It is the rule with drunkards to fall upon one
another, to fight
and
squabble and make tumult.
The lover is worse than the drunkard;
the lover also belongs
to that party. I will tell what love
is; it is to fall into a goldmine.
What may that gold be? The
lover is the king of kings; it
means becoming secure from death
and not caring for the golden crown.
The darvish in his cloak,
and in his pocket the pearl - why
should he be ashamed of
begging from door to door?
Last night that moon came along,
having flung his girdle on the road, so
drunken that he was not
aware that his girdle had fallen.
I said, "Leap up, my heart,
place wine in the hand of the soul;
for such a time has
befallen, it is time to be roistering.
"To become hand in hand
with the garden nightingale, to fall
into sugar with the
spiritual parrot."
I, heart-forlorn and heart-yielded, fallen
upon your way - by
Allah, I know of no other place to
fall.
If I broke your bowl, I am drunk, my idol. I am drunk -
leave
me not from you hand to fall into danger.
This is a
newborn rule, a newly enacted decree - to shatter
glasses, and
to fall upon the glassmaker!
Ode 2180
From these depths depart towards heaven;
may
your soul be happy, journey joyfully.
You have escaped from the
city full of fear and trembling;
happily become a resident of
the Abode of Security4 .
If the body’s image has gone, await the
image-maker; if the
body is utterly ruined, become all
soul.
If your face has become saffron pale through death,
become a
dweller among tulip beds and Judas trees.
If the
doors of repose have been barred to you, come, depart
by way of
the roof and the ladder.
If you are alone from Friends and
companions, by the help of
God become a saheb-qeran5 [lord of happy circumstance].
If you have been
secluded from water and bread, like bread
become the food of
the souls, and so become!
This is love: to fly to heaven, every
moment to rend a hundred veils;
At first
instance, to break away from breath -- first step, to renounce
feet;
To disregard this world, to see only that which you
yourself have seen6 .
I said, "Heart, congratulations on
entering the circle of lovers,
"On gazing beyond the range of
the eye, on running into the alley of the breasts."
Whence came
this breath, O heart? Whence came this throbbing, O
heart?
Bird, speak the tongue of birds: I can heed your
cipher!
The heart said, "I was in the factory whilst the home
of water and clay was abaking.
"I was flying from the workshop
whilst the workshop was being created.
"When I could no more
resist, they dragged me; how shall I
tell the manner of that
dragging?"
Sweetly parading you
go my soul of soul, go not without me;
life of your friends,
enter not the garden without me.
Sky, revolve not without me;
moon, shine not without me;
earth travel not without me, and
time, go not without me.
With you this world is joyous, and
with you that world is joyous;
in this world dwell not without
me, and to that world depart not without me.
Vision, know not
without me, and tongue, recite not without
me; glance behold
not without me, and soul, go not without me.
The night through
the moon's light sees its face white; I am
light, you are my
moon, go not to heaven without me.
The thorn is secure from the
fire in the shelter of the roses
face: you are the rose, I your
thorn; go not into the rose garden without me.
I run in the
curve of your mallet when your eye is with me;
even so gaze
upon me, drive not without me, go not without me.
When, joy,
you are companion of the king, drink not without
me; when,
watchman, you go to the kings roof, go not without me.
Alas
for him who goes on this road without your sign; since
you, O
signless one, are my sign, go not without me.
Alas for him who
goes on the road without my knowledge;
you are the knowledge of
the road for me; O road-knower, go not without me.
Others call
you love, I call you the king of love; O you who are
higher
than the imagination of this and that, go not without me.
290
Happy-checked saqi of mine, give the cup like
pomegranate blossom; if for my sake you will not give for the sake
of the heart of the Beloved.
Saqi, you are the darling, you are
the sick man's cure; quick give the draft of gladness and healing
to the sick.
Pour wine out in this bowl, smite the nick of
anxiety; now, do not break my heart, my heart and sweetheart, and
give.
Open that tavern, abandon this rowdiness; give to the
thirst-stricken lover from the vintner's vat.
You are the soul
of spring and garden, the glory of cypress and jasmine; now make
no excuses, roguish idol, but give!
When you set foot on
trickery and start away from the drunkard's hands our enemy will
rejoice; despite strangers, give!
Give not grief and sighing,
open the way only to joy; a sigh proceeds from the wayless; open
the way; give audience.
We are all intoxicated of the
encounter, athirst for the bumper of immortality; as pawns, give
robe and turban before the saqi.
I am athirst of old, hot of
heart and breast; break the beaker and cup, give much without
measure.
You are both moon and moonshine, I am the fish of this
water; the moon cannot reach the fish, so give generously of the
moonshine.
291
I am seeing a moon outside the eye in the eye,
which neither eye has seen or ear heard of.
I do not see tongue
and soul and heart save without myself, from that moment that I
stole a glance at that cheek.
Had Plato seen the loveliness and
beauty of that moon, he would have become even madder and more
distressed than I.
Eternity is the mirror of the temporal, the
temporal the mirror of pre-eternity - in this mirror those two are
twisted together like his tresses.
A cloud beyond the sense
whose rain is all spirit; sprinkling on the dust of the body -
what rains he has rained!
The moonfaced ones of heaven, seeing
the picture of his face, have become ashamed before that beauty
and scratched the bank of their necks.
Posteternity took the
hand of pre-eternity and took it toward the place of that moon:
having seen both, it laughed in jealous pride at the two.
About
and around his palace what lions there are, roaring jealously,
aiming at the blood of the self-sacrificing, adventurous
men.
Suddenly the word jumped from my mouth, 'Who is that king?
Shams-al-din king of Tabriz'; and at those words my blood
surged.
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