CONTENTS
Odes Part-I
A blaze is raging near His Throne
Bright are Thy tresses, brighten them even more
A free spirit I have, and seek no praise for it
What avails love when life is so ephemeral?
If my scattered dust turns into a heart again
The world is tospy—turvy; the stars are wildly spinning
O Cup—bearer! Give me again that wine of love for Thee
My Lord has effaced the gulf between His world and mine
Dost Thou remember not my heart’s first rapture
When flowers deck themselves into ruby bloom
I had believed my arena was under the starry heavens
Reason is either luminous, or it seeks proofs
O Lord! This world of Thine has a winsome face
Odes Part-II
Selfhood can demolish the magic of this world
Who sings this poignant song, blithe in spirit
The secret divine my ecstasy has taught
The flowers are once more in radiant bloom
Muslims are born with a gift to charm, to persuade
It is love that infuses warmth into the music of life
With a heart unknown to a flame
An illumined heart is ,supernal
Selfhood is daring in power, but has no pride
Winter winds pierced me like a sharp sword
Selfhood is an ocean boundless, fathomless
The morning breeze has whispered to me a secret
Thy vision and thy hands are chained, earth—bound
The only treasure reason has, is knowledge
Reason has bestowed on me the eye of the wise
Why should I ask wise men about my origin?
When the love of God teaches self—awareness
Explore the mysteries of’ fate, as I have done
Let thy reason be close to nature
Alas! These men of church and mosque are known
Reason has devised again the magic of ancient days
The West seeks to make life a perpetual feast
Sufis lack the fire, the passion that consumes
Intuition in the West was clever in its power
Arise! The bugle calls! It is time to leave!
Do not get engrossed In the dawning day and night
The training grounds of valour
Stanza: The style may not he vivid and lively, still
Quatrains
All potent wine is emptied of Thy cask
Make our hearts the seats of mercy and love
Estranging are the ways in the holy precinct
O wave! Plunge headlong into the dark seas
Am I bound by space, or beyond space?
I was in the solitude of Selfhood lost
Confused is the nature of my love for Thee
Faith survives in fire, like Abraham
Observe the strains of' lily song:
My nature is like the fresh breeze of morn
A restless heart throb, in every atom
Thy vision is not lofty, ethereal
Neither the Muslim nor his power survives
Selfhood in the world of men is prophethood
Distracted are thy eyes in myriad ways
The beauty of mystic love is shaped in song
Where is the moving spirit of my life?
I am not a pursuer, nor a traveller
Thy bosom has breath; it does not have a heart
Pure in nature thou art, thy nature is light
Muslims have lost the passion of love they had
Conquer the world with the power of Selfhood
Dew—drops glisten on flowers that bloom in the spring
Reason is but a wayside lamp that gives
Give the young, O Lord, my passionate love for Thee
Thine is the world of birds and beasts, O Lord!
Thank Thee, O Lord, I am not without talent born
He is the essence of the worlds of space and spirit
Love is sometimes a wanderer in the woods
Love seeks sometimes the solitude of hills
Grant me the absorption of souls of the past
It was Abul Hassan who stressed the truth
This reason of mine knows not good from evil
To be God is to do a million tasks
So man is the powerful lord of land and seas!
The mystic's soul is like the morning breeze
That blood of pristine vigour is no more
The movement of days and nights is eternal, fast
Selfhood's apostate is the life of reason
Thy body knows not the secrets of thy heart
Stanza: Iqbal recited once in a garden in spring
Poems
The Angels Bid Farewell to Adam
Adam is Received by the Spirit of the Earth
The Tartar's DreamStanza: Barter not thy Selfhood for silver and gold