Welcome to F.I.E.L.D.- the First Ismaili Electronic Library and Database.

09. Ode to Spring

Winter flees, Spring returns new youth

to this aged world, the Azure pool

is filled with sparkling wine, the silver desert

set with emeralds, and the wind,

whipping the flags of February, now

in march takes on a hint of incense.

The poor naked willow now is clothed

in fine gray silk and ear-rings. The meadow

has washed its face, the flowers eyes

have opened, earth has regained awareness,

for the Morning Breeze has breathed upon it

the Messiah s revivifying incantations.

The garden grows fresh as the sky;

the narcissus sparks like the Pleiades.

The clouds - are they not Joseph s miracle?

For the desert has grown fair as the face

of Potiphar s wife. Tulips blush

like so many young girls, the narcissus

stares about like a frenzied lover.

Violets, released from the persecution

of winter snow, have donned the robes

of Christians. Crystal spools are shady,

the air clear, the raven slinks away,

the nightingale begins to practise his scales,

the garden is paradise, the tulip s cheeks

grow luminous as the skin of black-eyed

houris. The crow, like a conquered blackamoor

enslaves himself to the rose and nightingale -

a trellis of white rose-vines punctuates the air

like the silver mosaic of the heavens.

Winter bows to Spring like the enemies of Faith

before Ali; the raven cowers in fear

like the foes of the Imams - hypocrisy

is woven in its black robe, like the gowns

of the Abbasids. The Sun shines forth

like a Fatimid as it ascends the slope

from its winter exile, its rays as bright

as Zulfiqar, giving vigour to the rose

as to the pearl-white steed of Ali.

Reaching the battlefield of the Equinox, the Sun

declares war on the cold season - Day

increases like Faith, like the People of Friendship;

Night shrinks like unbelief and grows dark

with melancholy as the People of Hypocrisy.

The world like a heart which remembers

now swells with light, beneficence and virtue.

It was till now as gloomy as a forgetful soul,

but has grown bright as a wiseman,

now that the Lord of the Planets in the sign of the Ram

has grown powerful in justice, the principle

of all goodness (was not Chosroes known

throughout the world for his justice?)

Behold what marvels rise with the Sun

in the Vernal Equinox: how this rotten mire

has been transformed to rubies and ambergris.

He is saved who waxes eloquent of knowledge

and justice, wherein are all blessings; who fulfils

the intellect s desire (for the world was made

only for wisdom and equity). True beauty

is knowledge, not the world s false tinsel.

Be not deceived by noise: seek truth,

and not the world. Do not swell with pride

to hear you ve been appointed Judge

in Balkh or Bukhara - know that true knowledge

of religion is eclipsed when the affairs of Faith

are entrusted to the rabble. Close your ears

to the words of an ignoramus, even if

he s famous; seek the Why and How of things

lest the world constrict about you like

a shrinking ring. Try to convey your ideas

to your opponents, for unless it is tried

in the fire of debate, science cannot

be purified. (He who goes to a court

without judge, jury or counsel for the prosecution

will naturally bring back a verdict

pleasing to himself - but perhaps wrong!)

Imitate the truly great, and be humble

before those who have risen through knowledge:

look how the black earth, by obeying

the palmtree, is turned, bit by bit

into sweet dates. The truly rich have

gained their wealth through knowledge and patience -

imitate the noble, for a noble mind

is the alpha and omega of a lofty spirit.


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