4. The Shark
Ah the busynessman, engage des affaires
what have you to pride yourself in this passing show?
You are theprophet of a world which
- consider ! - has made you a boob.
Run, run after it! now to the Spring
now to the Autumn of its ends.
If you have not sold your life to demonologies
why must you scuttle after a demon?
It strides hugely before you swollen with rancour -
why, why do you follow it in joy?
D you not fear some day this shark
may kiss you between its teeth?
If you ve a shred of brain
turn your face from the Big Lie of the Time.
Every today avarice lulls you with promises
which tomorrow will not fulfil
your youth has grown grey with grief,
hardships and suffering in hopes of future bliss -
and moment by moment in utopian dreams
the clock of earth ticks off the flow of years.
My son the world is your adversary
and in you covets nothing but your soul.
For you it wears a silk brocade
which swarms beneath the sleeve with scorpions.
Arrogant fool, feel free - for you
yourself are not safe from such disgrace.
You sought refuge at its gate but it
sharpens its razors on the strop of your throat.
The dragon has chewed on many
and clever as you - watch out for its fangs.
Here, take this volume, dusty with tales
of the kings of Persia, carry it home and read:
where is Feraydun, Kaykubad
where the August banner of Kaviyan?
Where is Sam the son of Nariman, Rustam
the generalissimo of Mazandaran?
Where now is Babal the son of Sasan, Ardashir
where? Wehre? Bahram and Nushirvan?
All of them have gone away with their herds and treasures
the shepherd departed, the sheep vanished.
This world is a dark and vacant haaway
not a true house. Detach your heart, free your soul.
God summons you, - now -
Ah sweetheart of heaven and earth
how will you wander to left and right
nor follow straight the caravan;
how long will pirate and go on pirating
your neighbour s provisions for the road?
Do you not blush to set up your roadside stall
and sell straw and call it fine saffron?
Tomorrow when you rise fro sleep
your cries and lamentations will buy you nothing.
Does that not frighten you, that Gathering Day
where old and young alike will come
and where no one will take your hand,
neither your son nor your loving father?
Sacks of guilt and chests of sin
weigh your neck and turn your back to water
but still you will face the Kaaba
till they lay you out on a bier
nor will your tongue will touch the Testimony of Faith
till the last breath rattles in your throat.
Why? Why? A grain of godfearing repentance
would lift the burden from your shoulders.
You build yourself a fine new house and suddenly
your neighbour s out on the street without a straw.
O ancient raider of the army of ignorance
now just once tighten your bridle.
Why are you running away with Satan himself
if you heart harbours no suspicions of the Qur an?
Your misgivings about the Book
will be punished, rest assured,
and on the day they surface, believe me,
your signs of regret will get you nowhere.
The soul is only webbed in this House of Bone
that you may bow to God;
the body s a quarry, your devotion a gem
which you must dig from the tenebrous veins of earth;
your spirit s a cavalier, the flesh its horse -
do not ride it except toward the Good.
Don t go running after the pleasures of the flesh
like a mangy cock after a hen.
Your world s an ocean, your body a ship
your life a fair tradewind and you the merchant:
my words are money in the bank -
why are your wasting your dividends?
O Nasir-i Khushraw you should say
give us words of wisdom as long as you can.
O you who are hidden in Khorasan like a Simurgh
your name is everywhere, your body concealed.
In the legions of the sciences of the Truth
your tongue is a bow, your speech a feathered shaft.
Day and night as always dive in the ocean of words
fetch back pearls and hand them around
so that something survives for posterity
when you leave on the eternal journey.
Arise at the command of the IMAM OF THE WORLD
and set sail upon the sea of speech.
- Printer-friendly version
- 2425 reads