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THE MARTIAN
ASTRONOMER COMES OUT OF THE OBSERVATORY| An aged man, his beard white as snow, | |
| having expended many years upon science and wisdom, | |
| keen of eye like the Western sages, | |
| his raiment like the robes of a Christian monk, | |
| far on in years, yet tall of stature as a cypress, | 1865 |
| his features glowing like a Turk of Merv, | |
| well-versed in the wont and way of every road, | |
| the deep thoughts evident in his eyes, | |
| seeing a man approaching, he opened like a flower | |
| and spoke in the tongue of Tusi and Khayyam. | 1870 |
| ‘A form of clay, prisoner to Quantity and Quality, | |
| has come forth from the abode of Under and Over, | |
| given flight to earth without aid of aircraft, | |
| lent to the fixed stars the essence of the planet!’ | |
| His speech and comprehension flowed like a river; | 1875 |
| I was lost in stupefaction at his words: | |
| is this all a dream, or a trick of magic? | |
| Pure Persian proceeding from a Martian’s lips! | |
| He continued: ‘In the time of the Chosen One | |
| there was a Martian, a man pure of soul, | 1880 |
| who opened his world-beholding eyes on your world | |
| and set his heart on travelling the confines of man. | |
| He spread his wings in the vast expanses of being | |
| until he alighted in the desert of Hejaz. | |
| He wrote down all that he saw in East and West, | 1885 |
| his picture more colourful than the Garden of Paradise. | |
| I too have been in Iran and Europe, | |
| I have travelled in the realms of Nile and Ganges, | |
| I have seen America and Japan and China, | |
| investigating the metals of the earth. | 1890 |
| I have knowledge of earth’s nights and days, | |
| I have journeyed through its lands and seas. | |
| The tumults of Adam’s sons are open before me, | |
| though man is not intimate with our labours.’ |
Rumi
| I am of the skies, my companion is of the earth, | 1895 |
| intoxicated, yet he has not tasted the veins of the vine; | |
| a man intrepid, his name is Zinda-Rud, | |
| his drunkenness derived from contemplating existence. | |
| We who have chanced thus upon your city | |
| are in the world, yet free from the world. | 1900 |
| In our quest for ever new apparitions | |
| be our companion on the road for a little time. |
The Martian
Sage
| These are the environs of Marghadin of Barkhiya— | |
| Barkhiya is the name of our ancestor. | |
| Farzmarz, the tempter to all evil, | 1905 |
| came up to Barkhiya once in Paradise; | |
| ‘How can you remain here content?’ he cried. | |
| ‘For many ages you have been dominated by God. | |
| There is a world far better than your abode, | |
| compared with which Paradise itself is but a moment’s springtide; | 1910 |
| that world is loftier than all other worlds, | |
| that world is more sublime than spacelessness. | |
| God Himself knows nothing of that world; | |
| I have never seen a world more free. | |
| God does not interfere in its ordering, | 1915 |
| it has no Book, no Prophet, no Gabriel, | |
| no circumambulations, no prostrations there, | |
| no prayers, no thanksgivings.’ | |
| Barkhiya replied, ‘Depart, you sorcerer, | |
| pour your own image upon that world!’ | 1920 |
| Since our ancestor did not succumb to his guile | |
| God entrusted to us another world. | |
| So enter this God-given kingdom; | |
| behold Marghadin and its laws and customs. |
