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Meditation by Hakim Sanai (1044? - 1150?) Timeline English version by Peter Lamborn Wilson and Nasrollah Pourjavady Original Language Persian/Farsi Muslim / Sufi 11th Century Collect your mind's fragments      that you may fill yourself           bit by bit with Meaning: the slave who meditates      on the mysteries of Creation           for sixty minutes gains more merit      than from sixty years           of fasting and prayer. Meditation:      high-soaring hawk           of Intellect's wrist resting at last      on the flowering branch           of the Heart: this world and the next      are hidden beneath           its folded wing. Now perched before      the mud hut           which is Earth now clasping with its talons      a branch of the Tree           of Paradise soaring here      striking there -- each moment           fresh prey gobbling a mouthful of moonlight      wheeling away           beyond the sun darting between the Great Wheel's      star-set spokes, it rips to shreds           the Footstool and the Throne a Pigeon's feather      in its beak --           or a comet -- till finally free of everything      it alights, silent           on a topmost bough. Hunting is king's sport,      not just anyone's           pastime but you?      you've hooded the falcon           -- what can I say? -- clipped its pinions      broken its wings...           alas.     -- from The Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry, Translated by Peter Lamborn Wilson / Translated by Nasrollah Pourjavady Amazon.com   / Photo by Hello, I'm Chuck /	Themes   Bower   Freedom   Garden   Heart   Moon Recommended Books The Book of Everything: Journey of the Heart's Desire, by Hakim Sanai Al-Ghaznavi / Translated by Priya Hemenway The Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry, Translated by Peter Lamborn Wilson / Translated by Nasrollah Pourjavady The Hand of Poetry: Five Mystic Poets of Persia, with Lectures by Inayat Khan, Translated by Coleman Barks Islamic Mystical Poetry: Sufi Verse from the Early Mystics to Rumi, Translated by Mahmood Jamal Love's Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition, Translated by David Fideler / Translated by Sabrineh Fideler More >>
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

This is such an interesting poem to me on several levels. Sometimes Persian poets will make reference to a king's hunting hawk. It is an image of noble bearing, heights of vision, and fierce service. But here Sanai compares meditation itself to a hunting hawk.

Meditation:
     high-soaring hawk
          of Intellect's wrist
resting at last
     on the flowering branch
          of the Heart:

That's a great element of the metaphor to contemplate: meditation begins with the intellect, but leaves the intellect behind. It then soars high into the heavens, before coming to rest in the wild, naturally flowering heart. That right there is worth its thinking about more deeply.

soaring here
     striking there -- each moment
          fresh prey...

But the lines that describe meditation as a hunter are what most grab my attention. Meditation boldly hunts all of existence, vanquishing everything between earth and heaven. Every single instant is prey for meditation. "Each moment fresh prey..."

For meditation, everything is prey, everything is food. And, as meditation hunts, the meditator sits still, watching in wonder, as this fierce hawk clears away the multiplicities of existence in the vision of unity.

But hawking is the game of kings. Here's our challenge: Do we sport with the world as kings, or do we clip meditation's wings?

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
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