| THE luminous point whose name is the Self |
| Is the life-spark beneath our dust. |
| By Love it is made more I sting, |
325 |
| More living, more burning, more glowing. |
| From Love proceeds the radiance of its being. |
| And the development of its unknown possibilities. |
| Its nature gathers fire from Love, |
| Love instructs it to illumine the world. |
330 |
| Love fears neither sword nor dagger, |
| Love is not born of water and air and earth. |
| Love makes peace and war in the world, |
| Love is the Fountain of Life, Love is the flashing sword of Death. |
| The hardest rocks are shivered by Love's glance: |
335 |
| Love of God at last becomes wholly God, |
| Learn thou to love, and seek a beloved: |
| Seek an eye like Noah's, a heart like Job's ! |
| Transmute thy handful of earth into gold, |
| Kiss the threshold of a Perfect Man!39 |
340 |
| Like Rumi, light the candle |
| And burn Rum in the fire of Tabriz !40 |
| There is a beloved hidden within thine heart: |
| I will show him to thee, if thou hast eyes to see. |
| His lovers are fairer than the fair, |
345 |
| Sweeter and comelier and more beloved. |
| By. love of him the heart is made strong |
| And earth rubs shoulders with the Pleiades. |
| The soil of Najd was quickened by his grace |
| And fell into a rapture and rose to the skies41 |
350 |
| In the Muslim 's heart is the home of Muhammad, |
| All our glory is from the name of Muhammad. |
| Sinai is but an eddy of the dust of his house, |
| His dwelling-place is a sanctuary to the Ka'ba itself. |
| Eternity is less than a moment of his time, |
| Eternity receives increase, from his essence. |
| He slept on a mat of rushes, |
| But the crown of Chosroes was under his people's feet. |
| He chose the nightly solitude of Mount Hira, |
| And he founded a state and laws and government. |
360 |
| He passed many a night with sleepless eyes |
| In order that the Muslims might sleep on the throne of Persia. |
| In the hour of battle, iron was melted by the fash of his sword; |
| In the hour of prayer, tears fell like rain from his eye. |
| When he prayed for Divine help, his sword answered "Amen" |
365 |
| And extirpated the race of kings. |
| He instituted new laws in the world, |
| He brought the empires of antiquity to an end. |
| With the key of religion he opened the door of this world: |
| The womb of the world never bore his like. |
370 |
| In his sight high and low were one, |
| He sat with his slave at one table. |
| The daughter of the chieftain of Tai was taken prisoner in battle42 |
| And brought into that exalted presence |
| Her feet in chains, unveiled, she was, |
375 |
| And her neck bowed with shame |
| When the Prophet saw that the -, poor girl had no veil, |
| He covered her face with his own mantle. |
| We are more naked than that lady of Tai, |
| We are unveiled before the nations of the world. |
380 |
| In him is our trust on the Day of Judgement, |
| And in this world too he is our protector. |
| Both his favour and his wrath are entirely a mercy: |
| That is a mercy to his friends and this to his foes. |
| He opened the gate of mercy to his enemies, |
385 |
| He gave to Mecca the message, "No penalty shall be laid upon you." |
| We who know not the bonds of country |
| Resemble sight, which is one though it be the light of two eyes. |
| We belong to the Hijaz and China and Persia, |
| Yet we are the dew of one smiling dawn. |
390 |
| We are all under the spell of the eye of the cup bearer from Mecca, |
| We are united as wine and cup. |
| He burnt clean away distinctions of lineage. |
| His fire consumed this trash and rubble. |
| We are like a rose with many petals but with one perfume: |
395 |
| He is the soul of this society, and he is one |
| We are the secret concealed in his heart: |
| He spake out fearlessly, and we were revealed. |
| The song of love for him fills my silent reed, |
| A hundred notes throb in my bosom. |
400 |
| How shall I tell what devotion he inspires ? |
| A block of dry wood wept at porting from him.43 |
| The Muslim's being is where he manifests his glory: |
| Many a Sinai springs from the dust on his path. |
| My image was created by his- mirror, |
405 |
| My dawn rises from the sun of his breast. |
| My repose is a perpetual fever, |
| My evening hotter than the morning of Judgment Day:44 |
| He is the April cloud and I his garden, |
| My vine is bedewed with his rain. |
410 |
| Ii sowed mine eye in the field of Love |
| And reaped, a harvest of vision. |
| "The soil of Medina is sweeter than both worlds: |
| Oh, happy the town where dwell the Beloved!" 45 |
| I am lost in admiration of the style of Mulla Jami: |
415 |
| His verse and prose are a remedy for my immaturity. |
| He has written poetry overflowing with beautiful ideas; |
| And has threaded pearls in praise of the Master- |
| "Muhammad is the preface to the book of the universe; |
| All the worlds are slaves and he is the Master." |
420 |
| From the wine of Love spring many spiritual qualities: |
| Amongst the attributes of Love is blind devotion. |
| The saint of Bistam, who in devotion was unique, |
| Abstained from eating a water-melon.46 |
| Be a lover constant in devotion to thy beloved, |
425 |
| That thou mayst cast thy nose and capture God. |
| Sojourn for a while on the Hira of the heart.47 |
| Abandon self and flee to God. |
| Strengthened by God, return to they self |
| And break the heads of the Lat and Uzza of sensuality.48 |
430 |
| By the might of Love evoke an army |
| Reveal thyself on the Faran of Love,49 |
| That the Lord of the Ka'ba may show thee favour |
| And make thee the object of the text, "Lo, I will appoint a vicegerent on the earth."50 |
