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XVII
TIME IS A SWORD
| GREEN be the holy grave of Shafi’i,! | |
| Whose vine hath cheered a whole world ? | |
| His thought plucked a star from heavens: | |
| He named time "a cutting sword." 111 | |
| How shall I say what is the secret of this sword ? | 1535 |
| In its flashing edge there is life. | |
| Its owner is exalted above hope and fear. | |
| His hand is whiter than the hand of Moses. | |
| At one stroke thereof water gushes from the rock | |
| And the sea becomes land from dearth of moisture. | 1540 |
| Moses held this sword in his hand, | |
| Therefore he wrought more than man may contrive. | |
| He clove the Red Sea asunder | |
| And made its waters like dry earth. | |
| The arm of Ali, the conqueror of Khaibar, | 1545 |
| Drew its strength from this same sword | |
| The revolution of the sky is worth seeing, | |
| The change of day and night is worth observing.112 | |
| Look, I thou enthralled by Yesterday and Tomorrow, | |
| Behold another world in thine, on heart! | 1550. |
| Thou hast sown the seed of darkness in the clay, | |
| Thou hast imagined Time as a line. | |
| Thy thought measures length of Time With the measure | |
| Of night and day. | |
| Thou mak'st this line a girdle on thine infidel waist; | 1555 |
| Thou art an advertiser of falsehoods like idols. | |
| Thou wert the Elixir, and thou hast become a Peck of dust; | |
| Thou wert born the conscience of Truth and thou hast become a lie! | |
| Art thou a Muslim girdle! Then cast of this girdle! | |
| Be a candle to the feast of the religion of the free! | 1560 |
| Knowing not the origin of Time, | |
| Thou art ignorant of everlasting Life. | |
| How long wilt thou be a thrall of night and day? | |
| Learn the mystery of Time from the words "I have a time with God.'113 | |
| Phenomena arise from the march of Time, | 1565 |
| Life is one of Time's mysteries. | |
| The cause of Time is not the revolution of the sun | |
| Time is everlasting, but the sun does not last for ever. | |
| Time is joy and sorrow, festival and fast, | |
| Time is the secret of moonlight and sunlight. | 1570 |
| Thou hast extended Time, like Space, | |
| And distinguished Yesterday from Tomorrow. | |
| Thou hast fled like a scent, from thine own garden; | |
| Thou hast made thy prison with thine own hand. | |
| Our Time which has neither r beginning nor end, | 1575 |
| Blossoms from the flower-bed of our, mind. | |
| To know its root quickens the living with new life: | |
| Its being is more splendid than the dawn. | |
| Life is of Time, and Time is of Life: | |
| "Do not abuse Time !" was the command of the Prophet.114 | 1580 |
| Oh, the memory of those days when Time's sword | |
| Was allied with the strength of our hands !115 | |
| We sowed the seed of religion in men's hearts | |
| And unveiled the face of Truth; | |
| Our nails tore loose the knot of this world, | 1585 |
| Our bowing in prayer give blessings to the earth. | |
| From the jar of Truth we made rosy wine gush forth, | |
| We charged against the ancient taverns. | |
| O thou in whose cup is old wine | |
| A wine so hot that the glass is well nigh turned to water, | 1590 |
| Wilt thou in thy pride and arrogance and self-conceit | |
| Taunt us with our emptiness? | |
| Our cup, too, hath graced the symposium | |
| Our breast hath owned a spirit. | |
| The new age with all its glories | 1595 |
| Hath risen from the dust of our feet. | |
| Our blood hath watered God's harvest, | |
| All worshippers of God are our debtors. | |
| The takbir was our gift to the world,116 | |
| Ka'bas were built of our clay. | 1600 |
| By means of us God taught the Koran, | |
| From our hand He dispensed His bounty. | |
| Although crown and signet have passed from us, | |
| Do not look with contempt on our beggarliness! | |
| In thine eyes we are good for nothing, | 1605 |
| Thinking old thoughts, despicable. | |
| We have honour from "There is no god but Allah." | |
| We are the protectors of the universe. | |
| Freed from the vexation of to-day and tomorrow. | |
| We have pledged ourselves to love One. | 1610 |
| We are the conscience hidden in God's heart, | |
| We are the heirs of Moses and Aaron, | |
| Sun and moon are still bright with our radiance, | |
| Lightning-flashes still lurk in our cloud. | |
| In our essence Divinity is mirrored: | 1615 |
| The Muslim's being is one of the signs of God. |
