Ismaili.NET - Heritage F.I.E.L.D.

Almighty God, my Creator,

I thank Thee for Thy favours

for in my dotage I have no cure for grief

but such gratitude to Thee.

A hundred thanks that I have no work

but to compose these pious and devotional poems.

Help me not to sow in my heart

any seed but that of Thy good pleasure.

Thou knowest the secret of all souls

and that my hart ails within me

that here in Yamgan I am alone

weak, abandoned and afflicted.

The world venerates a happy drunkard, but I

a teetotaller, am sad and despised.

In fear of my oppressors I am helpless

and hide within my mountainous fort

condemned by them as a sinner

for my love of Thy Messenger;

in love of him and his Household

I remain in misery and trouble.

On the Day of Reckoning judge between me

and that herd of stray cows

with which I can never wander -

for I am not a donkey.

Even though for my sweet and virtuous words

I deserve to be compared

with the delicious fruit of the datepalm

the blind eyes of the rabble

see me as a despicable thorn.

O my God, I take refuge with Thee

from this herd of ravenous wolves.

I dare not be your friend

O friend of the Grape,

the harp and the jug,

for I do not love, I do not share your taste

for these three evil companions.

Drunkards need drunkards - why do you

quarrel with me because I am sober?

Go, follow your own caravan, for I

am not of your breed of camel.

Ride forth and seek the world, leave me

to canter on the steed of Reason.

You may be a king, but I

have the precious pearl of my words;

you may rule the realm of Balkh, but I

am a monarch in my own domain.

I shall never accept the burden of your rule

just for an ass-portion of hay.

My inner and outer natures are equally manifest:

sometimes I am soft, sometimes

sharp as a thorn - yes, to the ignorant and unwise

sharp as brambles; to the wise

soft and forbearing. I do not want you

any more than you want me.

I am unacquainted with perfidy: my warp and weft

are of the same thread.

If you re ready to apologise

I m ready to forgive and forget.

My tongue is clean of obscenity,

my trousers unstained by fornication;

I pay no attention to evil and cunning,

I do not churn the cream of falsehood.

I do not need to boast of my virtues -

others will point them out

while I, living as I do,

discharge my duties towards the virtuous.

In my past, I slept in ignorance

and the world seized me in its talons,

plundered me while it embraced me

and coo d in my ear.

One moment it promised the harvests of Autumn,

next the green pains of Spring,

and seeing that I was an easy prey to love

perfumed my face with roses and musk.

Today you see me enfeebled and bent

but in those times you would have thought me

straight as a pine. Ah, the stars

tugged gently at my bridle

like a camel to pasture. Robust and happy . . .

and today I tremble and lament,

my ruby red cheeks gone bilious

my jetblack hair grown white as a milk.

I drank so much wine those days

I m still breathing out fumes!

But when I learned the ways of the world

I grew grey and downcast;

I awoke from my slumber . . . .no -

it was my Lord Who woke me.

I soon polished the intelligence-rust

from my eyes, blew the mist from my brain,

washed the dust of wantonnes

from my face and cheeks,

uprooted the tree of ignorance and aberration

from my riverbank garden.

Many the battle I fought with the world

till I was saved,

till I became the chosen one of the

Imam of the Time

(since I had chosen faith and devotion

for myself).

Now, ask me a difficult question

and I will not scratch my head;

my ear is sharp, for knowledge

hangs from it like a ear-ring;

my eye is clear because I have gazed

on Truth and Certainty.

I will no more be prey in the hunt

of the falcons and panthers of this world.

In the old days I boasted of my ancestors

but today my ancestors, and indeed

all the world s inhabitants, boast of me.

Then I was worth no more

than a chamber-pot - today

I am gold.

You don t believe me?

Try it yourself

and test the worth of my poem -

read it and memorise it!