Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Muslim / Sufi

13th Century

About Fakhruddin Iraqi

Timeline (? - 1289)

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English version by
William Chittick and Peter Lamborn Wilson

Original Language
Persian/Farsi

Love the phoenix cannot be trapped

Themes

Dawn

Heart

Lover and Beloved

Night

Wine

Recommended Books

	The Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry, Translated by Peter Lamborn Wilson / Translated by Nasrollah Pourjavady
	Fakhruddin Iraqi: Divine Flashes (Classics of Western Spirituality) , by William Chittick / Nasr Seyyed Hossein
	Love's Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition, Translated by David Fideler / Translated by Sabrineh Fideler
	Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty, Edited by Alan Jacobs

Love the phoenix cannot be trapped
nor in heaven or earth can it be named;

no one has yet discovered its address:
its desert holds not a single footprint.

The world drains the last drops from its cup
though itself it is not outside the glass;

dawn and dusk I caress its face, its tresses,
though where it is no day or night exists.

Morning-breeze, if you pass its lane
I have no message for it but this:

My repose, who are my very life, without you
I can take no single breath at ease.

Everyone in this world wants something, but I
have no desire at all -- except your lips;

from the moment my heart first fell into your locks
I've busied myself with nothing but lassos and snares.

How lucky to have a friend like you here below
(or Above)... The enemy hasn't a chance!

Inaugurate a romance then with 'Iraqi
even though he's unowrthy of such a boon.

-- from Fakhruddin Iraqi: Divine Flashes (Classics of Western Spirituality) , by William Chittick / Nasr Seyyed Hossein

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Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Fakhruddin Iraqi

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World