Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Listen to the reed how it tells a tale, complaining of separations
Saying, "Ever since I was parted from the reed-bed, my lament hath caused man and woman
to moan.
I want a *** torn by severance, that I may unfold (to such a one) the pain of love-desire.
Every one who is left far from his source wishes back the time when he was united with
it.
5. In every company I uttered my wailful notes, I consorted with the unhappy and with them
that rejoice.
Every one became my friend from his own opinion; none sought out my secrets from within me.
My secret is not far from my plaint, but ear and eye lack the light (whereby it should
be apprehended).
Body is not veiled from soul, nor soul from body, yet none is permitted to see the soul.
This noise of the reed is fire, it is not wind: whoso hath not this fire, may he be
naught!
10. 'Tis the fire of Love that is in the reed, 'tis the fervour of Love that is in the wine.
The reed is the comrade of every one who has been parted from a friend: its strains pierced
our hearts.
Who ever saw a poison and antidote like the reed? Who ever saw a sympathiser and a longing
lover like the reed?
The reed tells of the Way full of blood and recounts stories of the passion of Majnún.
Only to the senseless is this sense confided: the tongue hath no customer save the ear.
15. In our woe the days (of life) have become untimely: our days travel hand in hand with
burning griefs.
If our days are gone, let them go!—'tis no matter. Do Thou remain, for none is holy
as Thou art!
Whoever is not a fish becomes sated with His water; whoever is without daily bread finds
the day long.
None that is raw understands the state of the ripe: therefore my words must be brief.
Farewell!
O son, burst thy chains and be free! How long wilt thou be a bondsman to silver and gold?
20. If thou pour the sea into a pitcher, how much will it hold? One day's store.
The pitcher, the eye of the covetous, never becomes full: the oyster-shell is not filled
with pearls until it is contented.
He (alone) whose garment is rent by a (mighty) love is purged of covetousness and all defect.
Hail, O Love that bringest us good gain—thou that art the physician of all our ills,
The remedy of our pride and vainglory, our Plato and our Galen!
25. Through Love the earthly body soared to the skies: the mountain began to dance and
became nimble.
Love inspired Mount Sinai, O lover, (so that) Sinai (was made) drunken and Moses fell in
a swoon.
Were I joined to the lip of one in accord with me, I too, like the reed, would tell
all that may be told;
(But) whoever is parted from one who speaks his language becomes dumb, though he have
a hundred songs.
When the rose is gone and the garden faded, thou wilt hear no more the nightingale's story.
30. The Beloved is all and the lover (but) a veil; the Beloved is living and the lover
a dead thing.
When Love hath no care for him, he is left as a bird without wings. Alas for him then!
How should I have consciousness (of aught) before or behind when the light of my Beloved
is not before me and behind?
Love wills that this Word should be shown forth: if the mirror does not reflect, how
is that?
Dost thou know why the mirror (of thy soul) reflects nothing? Because the rust is not
cleared from its face.
The story of the king's falling in love with a handmaiden and buying her.
35. O my friends, hearken to this tale: in truth it is the very marrow of our inward
state.
In olden time there was a king to whom belonged the power temporal and also the power spiritual.
It chanced that one day he rode with his courtiers to the chase.
On the king's highway the king espied a handmaiden: the soul of the king was enthralled by her.
Forasmuch as the bird, his soul, was fluttering in its cage, he gave money and bought the
handmaiden.
40. After he had bought her and won to his desire, by Divine destiny she sickened.
A certain man had an *** but no pack-saddle: (as soon as) he got a saddle, the wolf carried
away his ***.
He had a pitcher, but no water could be obtained: when he found water, the pitcher broke.
The king gathered the physicians together from left and right and said to them, "The
life of us both is in your hands.
My life is of no account, (but) she is the life of my life. I am in pain and wounded:
she is my remedy.
45. Whoever heals her that is my life will bear away with him my treasure and pearls,
large and small."
They all answered him, saying, "We will hazard our lives and summon all our intelligence
and put it into the common stock.
Each one of us is the Messiah of a world (of people): in our hands is a medicine for every
In their arrogance they did not say, "If God will"; therefore God showed unto them the
weakness of Man.
I mean (a case in which) omission of the saving clause is (due to) a hardness of heart; not
the mere saying of these words, for that is a superficial circumstance.
50. How many a one has not pronounced the saving clause, and yet his soul is in harmony
with the soul of it!
The more cures and remedies they applied, the more did the illness increase, and the
need was not fulfilled.
The sick girl became (thin) as a hair, (while) the eyes of the king flowed with tears of
blood, like a river.
By Divine destiny, oxymel produced bile, and oil of almonds was increasing the dryness.
From (giving) myrobalan constipation resulted, relaxation ceased; and water fed the flames,
like naphtha.
How it became manifest to the king that the physicians were unable to cure the
handmaiden, and how he turned his face towards God and dreamed of a holy man.
55. When the king saw the powerlessness of those physicians, he ran bare-footed to the
mosque.
He entered the mosque and advanced to the mihráb (to pray): the prayer-carpet was bathed
in the king's tears.
On coming to himself out of the flood of ecstasy (faná) he opened his lips in goodly praise
and laud,
Saying, "O Thou whose least gift is the empire of the world, what shall I say, in as much
as Thou knowest the hidden thing?
O Thou with whom we always take refuge in our need, once again we have missed the way.
60. But Thou hast said, 'Albeit I know thy secret, nevertheless declare it forthwith
in thine outward act.'"
When from the depths of his soul he raised a cry (of supplication), the sea of Bounty
began to surge.
Slumber overtook him in the midst of weeping: he dreamed that an old man appeared
And said, "Good tidings, O king! Thy prayers are granted. If to-morrow a stranger come
for thee, he is from me.
When he comes, he is the skilled physician: deem him veracious, for he is trusty and true.
65. In his remedy behold absolute magic, in his temperament behold the might of God!"
When the promised hour arrived and day broke and the sun, (rising) from the east, began
to burn the stars,
The king was in the belvedere, expecting to see that which had been shown mysteriously.
He saw a person excellent and worshipful, a sun amidst a shadow,
Coming from afar, like the new moon (in slenderness and radiance): he was nonexistent, though
existent in the form of phantasy.
70. In the spirit phantasy is as naught, (yet) behold a world (turning) on a phantasy!
Their peace and their war (turn) on a phantasy, and their pride and their shame spring from
a phantasy;
(But) those phantasies which ensnare the saints are the reflexion of the fair ones of the
garden of God.
In the countenance of the stranger-guest was appearing that phantasy which the king beheld
in his dream.
The king himself, instead of the chamberlains, went forward to meet his guest from the Invisible.
75. Both were *** who had learned to swim, the souls of both were knit together without
sewing.
The king said, "Thou wert my Beloved (in reality), not she; but in this world deed issues from
deed.
O thou who art to me (as) Mustafá (Mohammed), while I am like unto 'Umar—I will gird my
loins to do thee service."
Beseeching the Lord, who is our Helper, to help us to observe self-control in all
circumstances, and explaining the harmful and pernicious consequences of
indiscipline.
Let us implore God to help us to self-control: one who lacks self-control is deprived of
the grace of the Lord.
80. The undisciplined man does not maltreat himself alone, but he sets the whole world
on fire.
A table (of food) was coming down from heaven without headache (trouble) and without selling
and buying,
(When) some of the people of Moses cried disrespectfully, "Where is garlic and lentils?"
(Straightway) the heavenly bread and dishes (of food) were cut off: there remained (for
all of them) the toil of sowing and (labouring with) mattock and scythe.
Again, when Jesus made intercession, God sent food and bounty (from heaven) on trays,
But once more the insolent fellows omitted to show respect and, like beggars, snatched
away the viands.
85. (Although) Jesus entreated them, saying, "This is lasting and will not fail from off
the earth."
To show suspicion and greed at the table of Majesty is ingratitude.
Because of those impudent wretches who were blinded by greed, that gate of mercy was closed
upon them.
On account of withholding the poor-tax no rain-clouds arise, and in consequence of fornication
the plague spreads in all directions.
Whatever befalls thee of gloom and sorrow is the result of irreverence and insolence
withal. 90. Any one behaving with irreverence in the
path of the Friend is a brigand who robs men, and he is no man.
Through discipline this Heaven has been filled with light, and through discipline the angels
became immaculate and holy.
By reason of irreverence the sun was eclipsed, and insolence caused an 'Azázíl to be turned
back from the door.
The meeting of the king with the divine physician whose coming had been announced to
him in a dream. He (the king) opened his hands and clasped
him to his breast and received him, like love, into his heart and soul,
And began to kiss his hand and brow and inquire concerning his home and journey.
95. (So) with many a question he led him to the dais. "At last," said he, "I have found
a treasure by being patient."
He said (also), "O gift from God and defence against trouble, (O thou who art) the meaning
of 'Patience is the key of joy'!
O thou whose countenance is the answer to every question, by thee hard knots are loosed
without discussion.
Thou interpretest all that is in our hearts, thou givest a helping hand to every one whose
foot is in the mire.
Welcome, O chosen one, O approved one! If thou vanish, Destiny will come (upon us) and
the wide room will be straitened.
100. Thou art the protector of the people. He that desires (thee) not hath gone to perdition.
Nay, verily, if he do not refrain...!"
When that meeting and bounteous (spiritual) repast was over, he took his hand and conducted
him to the harem.
How the king led the physician to the bedside of the sick girl, that he might see her condition.
He rehearsed the tale of the invalid and her illness, and then seated him beside the sick
(girl).
The physician observed the colour of her face, (felt) her pulse, and (inspected) her urine;
he heard both the symptoms and the (secondary) causes of her malady.
He said, "None of the remedies which they have applied builds up (health): they (the
false physicians) have wrought destruction.
105. They were ignorant of the inward state. I seek refuge with God from that which they
invent."
He saw the pain, and the secret became open to him, but he concealed it and did not tell
the king.
Her pain was not from black or yellow bile: the smell of every firewood appears from the
smoke.
From her sore grief he perceived that she was heart-sore; well in body, but stricken
in heart. Being in love is made manifest by soreness
of heart: there is no sickness like heartsickness.
110. The lover's ailment is separate from all other ailments: love is the astrolabe
of the mysteries of God.
Whether love be from this (earthly) side or from that (heavenly) side, in the end it leads
us yonder.