Inspirations

through us reality may be discerned,

Or else, if not, what are we worth, young man;

how shall we be the showcase of the fair?

But put the mirror back inside its case.

Illumination’s made your heart a Sinai.’

‘How could the Sun of Truth, the Sun eternal,’

he said, ‘be kept eclipsed beneath an armpit?

It tears the underhand and underarm;

no madness and no wisdom can survive it.’

He said, ‘Put up one finger to your eye –

the world appears to be without the sun.

A single fingertip obscures the moon

– this is a symbol of how God conceals.’

Just as the world is hidden by a point,

the sun becomes eclipsed by one mistake.

You, close your lips and see the ocean’s depth –

God made the ocean subject to mankind.

As Salsabil and Zanjabil’s outpourings

are subject to the Lord of Paradise,

Four streams of Paradise are in our power,

not from our might but by command of God.

We keep them flowing everywhere we will,

like magic at the will of the magicians,

As these two fountains flowing from the eyes

are subject to the heart and soul’s command.

If it desires, it goes to poisonous snakes,

or it may wish to go to take good counsel.

If it desires, it goes to sensual things,

or it may wish to go to subtle things.

If it desires, it goes to universals,