Lovingly blend into one — find the more excellent world.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
THE SAGES AND THE PEOPLE.
Epimenides.
NOW, brethren! hasten to the grove!
The eager people push and shove.
From North, South, East and West their yearning
For wisdom brings them, hither turning
Their hurrying steps. ’Tis light they love,
But not expensive is their learning;
I beg you now your minds prepare
To read the text as they demand it!
The People.
Ye men of riddles, we declare
That you must teach us, full and fair,
Not darkly — so we understand it:
Say! is the world from everlasting?
Anaxagoras.
I have no doubt of it, for casting
A backward glance, if e’er you came
To time without it, ’twould seem a shame!
The People.
But will it end in smoke and flame?
Anaximenes.
Most likely! Yet it’s all the same!
If God exists in deed and name,
There’ll still be pleasant worlds in plenty.
The People.
What dost thou mean by Infinite?
Parmenides.
Why should’st thou vex thyself with it?
Search thy own soul! If there is lacking
Infinity in mind and wit,
Take little thought for other’s backing!
The People.
But where and how is Thought evolv’d?
Diogenes.
Thou putt’st a riddle never solv’d;
The thinker thinks from hat to shoe,
And in a flash he gets the clue,
Unto the Where, the How, the Best.
The People.
And does my body house a soul?
Mimnermos.
‘Twere well to ask thy brothers,
For, dost thou see, this life long guest,
This civil creature with its rôle
Of pleasing self, delighting others,
Is call’d a soul, and I sustain it.
The People.
When Night is on, does sleep enchain it?
Periander.
It cannot slip its lasting bond;
Thy body feels the power of sleep,
Which comes upon it from beyond;
The soul, too, feels the influence deep.
The People.
What dost thou mean by Spirit? speak!
Kleoboulos.
The thing call’d Spirit, I confess,
Asks questions — never answers.
The People.
Now, tell me! what is happiness?
Krates.
’Tis what the fearless urchin shows,
Who, with his comrades — jolly dancers —
With jingling pennies, gayly goes;
Full well the pudding-place he knows —
I mean, he knows the baker!
The People.
What proof of immortality?
Aristippos.
The best life in reality
He leads who lives serene and meek —
Builds firm and strong in perfect vows —
And trusts all to his Maker!
The People.
Is wisdom or is folly best?
Demokritos.
That scarcely needs reflection,
The wise in his own conceit,
Is not begrudged when wise men meet.
The People.
Does chance rule all and mere deception?
Epikouros.
I take the old direction,
Get all the good I can from chance,
Enjoy deception’s fleeting glance;
Their use and sport thou would’st prefer so.
The People.
Is freedom of the will a lie?
Zeno.
It seems as though it were so,
So keep a good stiff upper lip,
And if thou mak’st a final slip,
Thou would’st preserve thy gravity.
The People.
Was I, a child, born in depravity?
Pelagius.
Thy question I had much preferred
Not at this junction to have heard;
’Tis true thou hast inherited
A grievous load unmerited.
To ask the question was absurd!
The People.
Are we compelled to seek our best?
Plato.
If everybody were not blest,
In ever taking good suggestions,
Thou would’st not ask such questions.
Make on thyself the first attempt,
And, if thou canst know thyself,
Let other people be exempt.
The People.
But everywhere rules greed for pelf!
Epiktetos.
Well! let the people have their gain,
The farthings of the balance
Thou must not grudge them; that is plain.
The People.
Now tell us how to use our talents,
Ere we forever drift apart.
The Sages.
The law of wisdom take to heart!
Avoid all questioners, my gallants!
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
Rhymed Distichs.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
GOD, SOUL AND WORLD.
WHO trusts in God
Fears not His rod.
This truth may be by all believ’d:
Whom God deceives is well deceiv’d.
How? when? and where? — No answer comes from high;
Thou wait’st for the Because, and yet thou ask’st not Why?
If the whole is ever to gladden thee,
That whole in the smallest thing thou must see.
Water its living strength first shows
When obstacles its course oppose.
Transparent appears the radiant air,
Though steel and stone in its breast it may bear;
At length they’ll meet with fiery power,
And metal and stones on the earth will shower.
Whate’er a living flame may surround,
No longer is shapeless, or earthly bound.
’Tis now invisible, flies from earth,
And hastens on high to the place of its birth.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
DISTICHS.
CHORDS are touch’d by Apollo, — the death-laden bow, too, he bendeth;
While he the shepherdess charms, Python he lays in the dust.
What is merciful censure? To make thy faults appear smaller?
May be to veil them? No, no! O’er them to raise thee on nigh!
Democratic food soon cloys on the multitude’s stomach;
But I’ll wager, ere long, other thou’lt give them instead.
What in France has pass’d by, the Germans continue to practise,
For the proudest of men flatters the people and fawns.
Who is the happiest of men? He who values the merits of others,
And in their pleasure takes joy, even as though ‘twere his own.
Not in the morning alone, not only at midday he charmeth;
Even at setting, the sun is still the same glorious planet.
TIME mows the thorns and the roses;
But the root fresh life-force ever discloses!
’Tis easier far a wreath to bind,
Than a good owner for’t to find.
A breach is every day
By many a mortal storm’d;
Let them fall in the gaps as they may,
Yet a heap of dead is ne’er form’d.
Wh
at harm has thy poor mirror done, alas?
Look not so ugly, prithee, in the glass!
God gave to mortals birth,
In His own image too;
Then came Himself to earth,
A mortal kind and true.
“NOW what is thy purpose and thy intention
In kindling new fire in thy spirit?”
My work men only shall mention
When I no longer shall hear it.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
West-Eastern Divan.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
Moganni Nameh.
Who the song would understand.
Needs must seek the song’s own land.
Who the minstrel understand,
Needs must seek the minstrel’s land.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
BOOK OF THE MINSTREL.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
HEGIRA.
NORTH and West and South are crumbling,
Kingdoms tremble, thrones are tumbling;
To the East fly from annoyance,
Seeking patriarchal joyance,
Where ‘mid love and wine and singing,
Chiser’s Fount new life is bringing.
There in calm and holy places
Will I study primal races;
Searching back to dim beginnings
For the source of wisdom’s winnings;
Wealth of language, lore of heaven,
Undisturb’d by discord’s leaven.
Children then show’d veneration,
Scorn’d was outside obligation!
Firmly grown in bone and marrow,
Faith was strong though thought was narrow;
And the word kept power unbroken,
Just because the word was spoken.
I will mix with shepherd races —
Find enjoyment in oases,
With long caravans will wander,
Wealth on shawls and spices squander.
Every path though rough or pretty
Will explore from waste to city.
Mountain footways rough and weary,
Hafis, do thy songs make cheery;
When the guide on muleback clinging
Wakes the echoes with his singing;
And the stars above are brighten’d,
And the lurking brigand frighten’d.
When I bathe or when I’m drinking,
Hafis great, of thee I’m thinking;
When her veil my sweetheart raises,
And my cheek her fair hair grazes,
Yea, the secret of the poet,
E’en the houris long to know it.
If you envy him this pleasure,
Or would stint him in his measure,
Know his poems, gently knocking,
For admittance hover flocking,
Round the gate of Eden never,
Doubting of the life forever.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
DISCORD.
WHEN by the brook his strain
Cupid is fluting,
And on the neighb’ring plain
Mavors disputing,
There turns the ear ere long,
Loving and tender,
Yet to the noise the song
Soon must surrender.
Loud then the flute-notes glad
Sound ‘mid war’s thunder;
If I grow raving mad,
Is it a wonder?
Flutes sing and trumpets bray,
Waxing yet stronger;
If, then, my senses stray,
Wonder no longer.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
TALISMANS.
GOD is of the East possess’d,
God is ruler of the West;
North and South alike, each land
Rests within His gentle hand.
He, the only righteous one,
Wills that right to each be done.
‘Mongst His hundred titles, then,
Highest praise be this! — Amen.
Error seeketh to deceive me,
Thou art able to retrieve me;
Both in action and in song
Keep my course from going wrong.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
THE FOUR FAVORS.
THAT Arabs through the realms of space
May wander on, light-hearted,
Great Allah hath, to all their race,
Four favors meet imparted.
The turban first — that ornament
All regal crowns excelling;
A light and ever-shifting tent,
Wherein to make our dwelling;
A sword, which, more than rocks and walls
Doth shield us, brightly glist’ning;
A song that profits and enthrals,
For which the maids are list’ning.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
SONG AND STRUCTURE.
LET the Greek his plastic clay
Mould in human fashion,
While his own creation may
Wake his glowing passion;
But it is our joy to court
Great Euphrates’ torrent,
Here and there at will to sport
In the watery current.
Quench’d I thus my spirit’s flame,
Songs had soon resounded;
Water drawn by bards whose fame
Pure is, may be rounded.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
CREATION AND VIVIFICATION.
OLD Adam was a clod of earth
Which God a man created,
Yet he, in spite of such a birth,
Was unsophisticated!
The Elohim blew down his nose
The breath of life most pleasing;
He now to something great arose: —
He caught a fit of sneezing.
Yet in his bones and limbs and head
He still remain’d half earthy,
Till Noah the bumper found, ’tis said,
The right thing for the worthy.
The clod as soon as he was wet
Felt wings of inspiration,
Just as the dough when it is set
Swells up with fermentation.
Thus Hafis, may thy lofty song,
Thy glorious example
Lead us with clinking cups along
To our Creator’s temple.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
Hafis Nameh.
Spirit let us bridegroom call,
And the word the bride;
Known this wedding is to all
Who have Hafis tried.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
BOOK OF HAFIS.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
THE NEW NAME.
Poet.
MAHOMET-SHEMS-ED-DIN, tell me
Why thy noble people name thee
Hafis?
Hafis.
Sir, I cannot blame thee;
I will speak how it befell me:
Since my memory never faltered,
And with joy I kept unaltered
All the Koran’s sacred verses,
And amid my many mercies
Never with the evil paltered
That the faithful were offended,
Who the seed-word of the prophet
Treasure as it was intended:
Therefore am I bearer of it.
Po
et.
Hafis, as I thus behold us,
Is it well to stay anigh thee;
For the thoughts of others mould us
To resemble them; and I thee
Must resemble wholly,
Who have in my bosom minted
Impress of our Scripture holy,
As the Saviour’s face was printed
On the wondrous napkin. Joyance
Fills me, spite of all annoyance,
Spite of hindrance, loss, negation,
For I have Faith’s consolation.
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
THE GERMAN RETURNS THANKS.
HOLY EBUSUUD, thou hast fathom’d
All the holy things the poet covets!
For it is indeed the thousand trifles
Not within the sacred Law’s dominions
Where his portion lies, and where with boldness,
Joyous e’en in grief, he finds his duty.
Serpent venom and the theriaca
He must take without discrimination:
Poison kills not, antidote is helpless,
For true life consists in guileless action
Tempered by the everlasting wisdom,
Harming self but never harming others:
Thus the aged poet hopes the houris
To the joys of paradise will take him,
As a youth with vision clarified: —
Holy Ebusuud, thou hast reach’d it!
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
THE UNLIMITED.
THAT thou canst never end doth make thee great,
And that thou ne’er beginnest is thy fate.
Thy song is changeful as yon starry frame,
End and beginning evermore the same;
And what the middle bringeth but contains
What was at first, and what at last remains.
Thou art of joy the true and minstrel-source,
From thee pours wave on wave with ceaseless force.
A mouth that’s aye prepar’d to kiss,
A breast whence flows a loving song,
A throat that finds no draught amiss,
An open heart that knows no wrong.
And what though all the world should sink!
Hafis, with thee, alone with thee
Will I contend! joy, misery,
The portion of us twain shall be;
Like thee to love, like thee to drink, —
This be my pride, — this, life to me!
Now, Song, with thine own fire be sung, —
For thou art older, thou more young!
Chronological table of contents
Alphabetical table of contents
TO HAFIS.
HAFIS, straight to equal thee,
One would strive in vain;
Though a ship with majesty
Cleaves the foaming main,
Feels its sails swell haughtily
Works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Page 286