TOUR OF THE CITY OF MARGHADIN
Marghadin and those lofty edifices | 1925 |
what can I say of that noble city? | |
Its inhabitants sweet of speech as honey, | |
comely their faces, gentle their manners, simple their apparel, | |
their thoughts innocent of the burning fever of gain, | |
they were intimate with the secrets of the suns alchemy; | 1930 |
who so of them desires silver or gold gathers it from light, | |
even as we gather salt from the briny sea. | |
The aim of science and art there is service, | |
no one weighs work done against gold; | |
no one is even acquainted with dinars and dirhams, | 1935 |
these idols may not enter the sanctuary. | |
The demon of the machine has no power over nature, | |
the skies are not blackened by smoke; | |
the lamp of the hard-toiling farmer is always bright, | |
he is secure from the plundering of the landlords, | 1940 |
his tillage is not a struggle for water, | |
his harvest is his own, no other shares in it. | |
In that world there are no armies, no squadrons, | |
none gains his livelihood by killing and murder; | |
In Marghadin no pen wins lustre | 1945 |
from inscribing and disseminating lies; | |
in the market-places there is no clamour of the workless, | |
no whining of beggars afflicts the car. |
The Martian
Sage
No one here is a mendicant or destitute, | |
slave and master, ruler and ruled, here are none. | 1950 |
Zinda-Rud
Mendicant and destitute are so by Gods decree, |
by Gods decree ruler and ruled; |
none but God is the creator of destiny |
and against destiny human design is powerless. |
The Martian
Sage
If your heart bleeds on account of one destiny, | 1955 |
petition God to decree another destiny; | |
if you pray for a new destiny, that is lawful, | |
seeing that Gods destinies are infinite. | |
Earthlings have gambled away the coin of selfhood, | |
not comprehending the subtle meaning of destiny; | 1960 |
its subtlety is contained in a single phrase | |
If you transform yourself, it too will be transformed. | |
Be dust, and fate will give you the winds; | |
be a stone, and it will hurl you against glass. | |
Are you a dew-drop? Your destiny is to perish; | 1965 |
are you an ocean? Your destiny is to endure. | |
Every moment you are fashioning new Lats and Manats; | |
inconstant one, do you look for constancy from idols? | |
So long as your faith is to accord not with your self | |
the world of your thoughts is your prison; | 1670 |
toil without treasure-such is destiny; | |
treasure without toil-such is destiny! | |
If this is the foundation of faith, ignorant fellow, | |
then the needy will become still more in need. | |
Woe to that religion which lulls you to sleep | 1975 |
and still holds you in sleep profound! | |
Is this religion, or magic and enchantment? | |
Is this religion, or a grain of opium? | |
Do you know whence comes the penetrating nature, | |
whence came this houri into your tenement of clay? | 1980 |
Do you know whence comes the sages power of thought, | |
whence the potency of prayer in Gods interlocutors? | |
Do you know whence came this heart, and its visitations, | |
whence these arts, these miracles? | |
Do you have fire of speech? That comes not from you; | 1985 |
do you have flame of action? That comes not from you. | |
All this is an overflow of the springtime of nature, | |
nature which derives from natures Creator. | |
What is life? A mine of gems; | |
you are the trustee, its owner is Another. | 1990 |
A radiant nature glorifies the man of God, | |
to serve all Gods creatures, that is his aim | |
Service belongs to the wont and way of prophethood; | |
to seek a reward for service is mere commerce. | |
Even so this wind, earth, cloud, field, | 1995 |
orchard, meadow, palace, street, stones, bricks | |
you who say, Our property is of ourselves, | |
ignorant one, all this belongs to God. | |
If you regard Gods earth as your own, | |
then what means the verse, Work not corruption? | 2000 |
Adams sons have given their hearts to Iblis, | |
and from Iblis I have seen only corruption. | |
None should convert a trust to his own use; | |
blessed is he who renders Gods property up to God. | |
You have carried off what does not belong to you; | 2005 |
my soul sorrows for so unworthy a deed. | |
If you own a thing, that is meet and right, | |
but if you do not, say yourself, how is that proper? | |
Return to God the property of God | |
so that you may loose the knot of your involvement; | 2010 |
for why is there poverty and want under heavens arch? | |
Because you say what is the Lords belongs to you. | |
The man who has not leaped forth from water and clay | |
has shattered his own glass with his own stone. | |
You who cannot tell goal from path, | 2015 |
the value of every thing is measured by the regard. | |
So long as the pearl is your property, it is a pearl, | |
otherwise it is a pebble, worth less than a farthing. | |
View the world otherwise, and it will become other, | |
this earth and heaven will be transformed. | 2020 |