Hakim Sanai: Meditation

Collect your mind's fragments
     that you may fill yourself
          bit by bit with Meaning:
the slave who meditates
     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,
     and just anyone's
          pastime
but you?
     you've hooded the falcon
          -- what can I say? --
clipped its pinions
     broken its wings...
          alas.

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Hakim Sanai

Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

About Hakim Sanai

Poetry Chaikhana
Sacred Poetry from Around the World