| That tempestuous wind, those night black clouds— | |
| in their darkness the lightning itself had lost its lustre; | |
| an ocean suspended in their air, | |
| its skirt rent, few pearls pouring, | 1600 |
| its shore invisible, its waves high-surging, | |
| high-surging, powerless to battle with the winds. | |
| Rumi and I in that sea of pitch | |
| were as phantoms in the bedchamber of the mind— | |
| he much-travelled, I new to travel, | 1605 |
| my eyes impatient to gaze abroad. | |
| Continually I cried: ‘My sight is inadequate, | |
| I do not see where the other world may be!’ | |
| Presently a mountain-range appeared, | |
| a river, a broad meadow appeared, | 1610 |
| mountain and plain embracing a hundred springtides— | |
| fragrant with musk came the breeze from the hills. | |
| Songs of birds conspiring together, | |
| fountains, and verdant herbs half-grown. | |
| The body was fortified by the emanation of that air, | 1615 |
| the pure spirit in the flesh keener of vision. | |
| I fixed my gaze on the top of a mountain; | |
| a joyful the mountain, the slope, the stretching plain; | |
| a lovely valley, even, not sinking nor rising— | |
| the water of Kbizr would have need of such a land. | 1620 |
| In this valley were the ancient gods, | |
| there the God of Egypt, here the Lord of Yemen, | |
| there a Lord of the Arabs, here of Iraq, | |
| this one the god of union, that the god of separation, | |
| here an offspring of the sun, and the moon’s son-in-law, | 1625 |
| another looking to the consort of Jupiter, | |
| one holding a two-edged sword in his hand, | |
| another with a serpent wreathed about his throat. | |
| Each one was trembling at the Beautiful Name, | |
| each wounded by the smiting of Abraham. | 1630 |
| Mardukh said: ‘Man has fled from God, | |
| fled from church and sanctuary, lamenting, | |
| and to augment his vision and perception | |
| turns his gaze backwards to the past age. | |
| He takes delight in ancient relics, | 1635 |
| makes speeches about our theophanies. | |
| Time has revealed a new legend; | |
| a favourable wind is wafting from younder earth.’ | |
| Baal in excess of joy chanted sweetly | |
| Unveiling our secrets to the gods. | 1640 |