Niyazi Misri - Now No Trace Remains

[bobby1933]

Now No Trace Remains

by Niyazi Misri

English version by Jennifer Ferraro & Latif Bolat
Original Language Turkish

I thought that in this whole world
     no beloved for me remained.

Then I left myself.
     Now no stranger in the world remains.

I used to see in every object a thorn
     but never a rose--

the universe became a rose garden.
     Not a single thorn remains.

Day and night my heart
     was moaning "Ahhh!"

I don't know how it happened--
     now no "Ahhh" remains.

Duality went, Unity came.
     I met with the Friend in private;

The multitude left, the One came.
     Only the One remains.

Religion, piety, custom, reputation--
     these used to matter greatly to me.

O Niyazi -- what has happened to you?
     No trace of religion now remains.

-- from Quarreling with God: Mystic Rebel Poems of the Dervishes of Turkey, Translated by Jennifer Ferraro / Translated by Latif Bolat
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