لطفا منتظر باشید ...
WE PLUNGE
INTO THE SEA OF VENUS
AND BEHOLD
THE SPIRITS
OF PHARAOH
AND KITCHENER
| The Sage of Rum, that master of fair Report | |
| whose blow has the power of Abraham’s fist, | |
| chanted this song in the world of intoxication | |
| and all the ancient gods prostrate fell. | 1680 |
Ghazal
| Again one must gaze on the past and the future; | |
| ho, rise up, for one must think anew. | |
| Love carries its load on the she-camel of Time; | |
| are you a lover? You must make your mount of evening and morn. | |
| Our elder said, ‘The world follows not a constant way, | 1685 |
| one must close one’s eyes to its joys and griefs. | |
| If, having abandoned the world, you intend Him, | |
| first you must pass away from your self.’ | |
| I said to him, ‘In my heart are many Lats and Manats.’ | |
| He said, ‘You must destroy this idol-house utterly.’ | 1690 |
| Again he said to me: ‘Rise up, boy, | |
| cling only to my skirt, boy. | |
| Yonder mountains, yonder heights without a Moses, | |
| so covered with snow as to seem a heap of silver, | |
| beyond them stretches a diamond-shining ocean, | 1695 |
| its depths even more translucent than its surface; | |
| undisturbed by wave or torrent, | |
| in its nature an eternal quiet. | |
| This is the place of power-drunk arrogants | |
| denying the Unseen, worshipping the seen; | 1700 |
| that one from the East, the other from the West, | |
| both at war and blows with the men of God. | |
| One has had on his neck the staff of Moses, | |
| the other struck asunder by a dervish’s sword, | |
| both Pharaohs, one little, the other great, | 1705 |
| both dying of thirst in the embrace of the sea; | |
| each is familiar with the bitterness of death— | |
| the death of tyrants is one of God’s signs. | |
| Follow me closely and fear no one; | |
| place your hand in mine and fear no one. | 1710 |
| I will rend apart the sea like Moses; | |
| I will guide you into its very breast.’ | |
| The sea opened to us its breast— | |
| or was it air, that appeared as a water? | |
| Its depths were a valley without colour and scent, | 1715 |
| a valley whose darkness was fold on fold. | |
| The Sage of Rum chanted the Sura of Taha; | |
| under the sea streamed down moonshine. | |
| Mountains washed, naked and cold, | |
| and amid them two bewildered men | 1720 |
| who first cast a glance on Rumi, | |
| then gazed one upon the other. | |
| Pharaoh cried, ‘What wizardry! What a river of light! | |
| whence comes this dawn, this light, this apparition?’ |
Rumi
| All that is hidden through Him is manifest; | 1725 |
| the origin of this Light is from the White Hand. |
Pharaoh
| Ah, I have gambled away the coin of reason and religion; | |
| I saw, but did not recognize this light. | |
| World-rulers, gaze all upon me; | |
| world-destroyers, gaze all upon me! | 1730 |
| Woe to a people blinded by avarice | |
| who have robbed the tomb of rubies and pearls! | |
| A human shape dwells in a museum | |
| with a legend upon its silent lips | |
| telling the history of imperialism | 1735 |
| and giving visions to the blind. | |
| What is the grand design of imperialism? | |
| To seek security by contriving division. | |
| From such evil doctrine the fate of rulership declines, | |
| the contrivances of rulership become void and confused. | 1740 |
| If I could only see God’s interlocutor again | |
| I would beg from him a heart aware. |
Rumi
| Government without spiritual light is raw, raw, | |
| imperial power without the White Hand is a sin. | |
| Rulership is strong through the weakness of the subjects, | 1745 |
| its roots are firm through the deprivation of the deprived. | |
| The crown derives from tribute and the yielding of tribute; | |
| if a man be a rock, he soon becomes glass. | |
| Armies, prisons, chains are banditry; | |
| he is the true ruler who needs not such apparatus. | 1750 |
Kitchener of
Khartoum
| The goal of the people of Europe is lofty, | |
| they excavate not any grave for rubies and pearls— | |
| the history of Egypt, Pharaoh and Moses | |
| can be seen from ancient monuments. | |
| Science and wisdom is simply the unveiling of secrets; | 1755 |
| wisdom without research is utterly worthless. |
Pharaoh
| Science and wisdom uncovered my tomb; |
| but what was there to find in the Mahdi’s grave? |
