QUESTION 9
| WHO at last became familiar with the secret of unity " |
| Who is the wise man that is a gnostic? |
Answer
| THE world beneath the sky is a charming place, | |
| But its sun and moon are prone to decay. | |
| The corpse of the sun is carried on the shoulders of the evening, | |
| The stars vanish when the moon appears. | |
| The mountain flies like the moving sand, | 5 |
| The river changes in a moment. | |
| Autumn lies in ambush against. the flowers, | |
| The merchandise of the caravan is the fear (of loss) of life. | |
| The tulip does not retain its beauty through dew, | |
| If it retains it for a while, it loses it the next moment. | 10 |
| The sound dies in the harp without being produced, | |
| The flame dies in the stone without manifesting itself. | |
| Don't ask me about the universality of death, | |
| You and I are tied by our breaths to the chain of death. | |
| Death is destined to be the wine of every cup, | 15 |
| How ruthlessly has it been made common! | |
| The arena of sudden death | |
| Has been called the world of moon and stars. | |
| If any particle of it learnt to fly, | |
| It was brought under control by the spell of sight. | 20 |
| Why do you seek rest for us? | |
| We are Tied to the revolutions of the days. | |
| Be careful of the ego within your heart, | |
| From this star, the night was illumined. | |
| The world is absolutely a place of decay,1 | 25 |
| This is the gnosis in this strange land. | |
| Our heart is not seeking anything futile, | |
| Our lot is not fruitless grief. | |
| Desire is looked after here, | |
| And also the intoxication of the yearning of search. | 30 |
| Ego can be made immortal; | |
| Separation can be changed into union. | |
| A lamp can be lit by our hot breath, | |
| Crack in the sky can be sewn by a needle. | |
| The Living God is not without a taste for beauty, | 35 |
| His manifestations are not without society. | |
| Who cast the lightning of His Grace on the heart? | |
| Who drank that wine and struck the cup on the head? | |
| Whose heart is the criterion of beauty and good? | |
| Whose house is it round which His moon revolves? | 40 |
| From whose privacy the cry of "Am I not your Lord" arose? | |
| From whose musical strings the answer of "Yes" appeared?2 | |
| What a fire Love kindled in this handful of dust | |
| One cry from us burnt down thousands of veils. | |
| It is only our presence that keeps the cup of the Saqi in motion | 45 |
| And maintain liveliness in His society. | |
| My heart burns on the loneliness of God! | |
| In order, therefore, to maintain intact His Ego Society | |
| I saw in my dust the seed of selfhood, | |
| And keep a constant vigil over my "I"3 | 50 |