Selfhood can demolish the magic of this world; But our belief in The One is not comprehended by all. *** Have a seer's eye, and light will dawn on thee; As a river and its waves cannot remain apart. *** The light of God and knowledge are not in rivalry, But so the pulpit believes, afraid of Hallaj's rope. *** Contentment is the shield for the pure and the noble A shield in slavery, and a shield in power. *** In the East the soul looks in vain for light; In the West the light is a faded cloud of dust. *** The fakirs who could shatter the power and pelf of kings No longer tread this earth, in climes far or near. *** The spirit of this age is brimful with negations, And drained to the fast drop is the power of faith. *** Muted is Europe's lament on its crumbling pageant, Muted by the delirious beats, the clangour of its music. *** A sleepy ripple awaits, to swell into a wave A wave that will swallow up monsters of the sea. *** What is slavery but a loss of the sense of beauty? What the free call beautiful, is beautiful indeed. *** The present belongs to him who explores, in their depths, The fathomless seas of time, to find the future's pearl. *** The alchemist of the West has turned stone into glass But my alchemy has transmuted glass into flint *** Pharaohs of today have stalked me in vain; But I fear not; I am blessed with Moses' wand. *** The flame that can set afire a dark, sunless wood, Will not be throttled by a straw afloat in the wind. *** Love is self-awareness; love is self-knowledge; Love cares not for the palaces and the power of kings. *** I will not wonder if I reach even the moon and the stars, For I have hitched my wagon to the star. of all stars. *** First among the wise, last of the Prophets, Who gave a speck of dust the brightness of the Mount. *** He is the first and last in the eyes of love; He is the Word of God. He is the Word of God. _____________ Translated by Naeem Siddiqui