Sufi
Sufi
Sufi
O Marvel,
a garden among the flames!
The smooth surface of her legs is (like) the Tora in brightness, and I follow it and tread in its
footsteps as tho’ I were Moses.
She is a bishopess, one of the daughters of Rome, unadorned: thou seest in her a radiant
Goodness.
Wild is she, none can make her his friend; she has gotten in her solitary chamber a mausoleum
for remembrance.
She has baffled everyone who is learned in our religion, every student of the Psalms of David,
every Jewish doctor, and every Christian priest.
If with a gesture she demands the Gospel, thou wouldst deem us to be priests and patriarchs
and deacons.
The day when they departed on the road, I prepared for war the armies of my patience, host
after host.
Dearly beloved!
I have called you so often and you have not heard me
I have shown myself to you so often and you have not
seen me.
I have made myself fragrance so often, and you have
not smelled me.
Savorous food, and you have not tasted me.
Why can you not reach me through the object you touch
Or breathe me through sweet perfumes?
Why do you not see me? Why do you not hear me?
Why? Why? Why?
This is not a poem in the Arabic, but part of a chapter from the Kitab al-Tajalliyat. However,
since it was translated in the form of a poem by Henry Corbin in Creative Imagination in the
Sufism of Ibn Arabi, it has become deservedly famous.
I am the One whom I love, and the One whom I love is myself.
We are two souls incarnated in one body;
if you see me, you see Him,
if you see Him, you see us.
Ode 487
BY HAFEZ
TRANSLATED BY RICHARD LE GALLIENNE
With last night’s wine still singing in my head,
I sought the tavern at the break of day,
Though half the world was still asleep in bed;
The harp and flute were up and in full swing,
And a most pleasant morning sound made they;
Already was the wine-cup on the wing.
‘Reason,’ said I, ‘’t is past the time to start,
If you would reach your daily destination,
The holy city of intoxication.’
So did I pack him off, and he depart
With a stout flask for fellow-traveller.
Love is reckless