Ghazal 3051
You flew off in the end -
verged into the hidden
But how? How - by what road
did you depart the world?
Oh, your feathers fluttered
your wings bear - broke the cake
and you took to the air
soaring toward the soul world
A royal falcon you were
caught in the Old Hag's jess
The falcon-drum called you back
to the Placeless perch
Intoxicated, you -
a nightingale among
the inauspicious owls
When it came over you -
the rose bower's fragrance -
you flew toward the hand of
the one who plucks the rose
This sour yeast's sore yield:
A throbbing hangover
But in the end you found
Eternity's tavern
Straight as an arrow speeds
you marked fortune's target
You whizzed toward that target
Fleeing this tautly bowed arch
The crooked world, ghoul-like
misled you here to there
You passed beyond those signs
heading toward the Traceless
What to do with that crown
now that you are a sun
or with this regal belt?
What good these, to a head
disappeared from our midst?
I've heard that with both dead eyes
we'll stare up at the soul
Why do you gaze soul-ward
who've joined with the soul of Soul.
O heart, what a rare bird!
in hunting your reward
You flew forward toward spears
held up both wings for shields
Roses shrink from autumn
But you're a bold-bud rose
braving gall blasts, you went -
not all in one fell swoop -
but skittering slowly
From heaven to the earth
You poured down on the roof
and like the raindrops ran
every which-way, to learn
the drainpipe spits you out
Silence! Enough talk - sleep!
You've sheltered with the Friend
- - - - - - -
Translated by Franklin D. Lewis