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Let the ascetics sing of the garden of Paradise by Mirza Ghalib (1797 - 1869) Timeline English version by Jane Hirshfield Original Language Urdu Muslim / Sufi 19th Century Let the ascetics sing of the garden of Paradise -- We who dwell in the true ecstasy can forget their vase-tamed bouquet. In our hall of mirrors, the map of the one Face appears As the sun's splendor would spangle a world made of dew. Hidden in this image is also its end, As peasants' lives harbor revolt and unthreshed corn sparks with fire. Hidden in my silence are a thousand abandoned longings: My words the darkened oil lamp on a stranger's unspeaking grave. Ghalib, the road of change is before you always: The only line stitching this world's scattered parts.     -- from The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell Amazon.com	Themes   Bliss   Death   Fire   Garden   Silence Recommended Books East Window: Poems from Asia, Translated by W. S. Merwin The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, by Stephen Mitchell Lightning Should Have Fallen on Ghalib, by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib / Translated by Robert Bly Mirza Ghalib: A Creative Biography, by Natalia Il'inichna Prigarina The Oxford India Ghalib: Life, Letters and Ghazals, by Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib / Edited by Ralph Russel More >>
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

Each couplet of this ghazal dances, don't they?

In our hall of mirrors, the map of the one Face appears
As the sun's splendor would spangle a world made of dew.

Those lines could just as easily appear in a Buddhist poem. In the myriad objects of the world, everything is a mirror reflecting the one Reality. Each person, each thing, is like a drop of dew shining like the sun.

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.