Yet never qualify me (from The Poem of the Sufi Way)
by Umar Ibn al-FaridEnglish version by Th. Emil Homerin
Original Language Arabic
Yet never qualify me
as a companion near,
which I regard an outrageous crime
severing the rule of union.
For my arrival is my parting,
my nearness, being far;
my loving, my loathing,
my beginning, my end.
By "her" I alluded to myself --
and I meant none but me;
for her sake I stripped off
my name, namesake, and fame,
And set out far beyond
where those before stood still,
where minds went astray on accustomed paths,
died and disappeared.
I have no attribute;
that is a stamp, as a name is a brand,
but if you must, speak of me
allusively or with metaphor.
I ascended from "I am she"
to where there is no "to,"
sweetening my existence
by my return
From "I am I,"
for an inner wisdom
and outer laws
to begin my call.
-- from Umar Ibn al-Farid: Sufi Verses, Saintly Life, Translated by Th. Emil Homerin |
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