Poetry Chaikhana Sacred Poetry from Around the World

Muslim / Sufi 11th Century	About Hakim Sanai Timeline (1044? - 1150?)
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English version by Coleman Barks Original Language Persian/Farsi	Streaming
Commentary by Ivan M. Granger Themes   Fire   Light   Lover and Beloved   Sun   Water   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 Love's Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition, Translated by David Fideler / Translated by Sabrineh Fideler Perfume of the Desert: Inspirations from the Sufi Wisdom, by Andrew Harvey / Eryk Hanut More >>	When the path ignites a soul, there's no remaining in place. The foot touches ground, but not for long. The way where love tells its secret stays always in motion, and there is no you there, and no reason. The rider urges his horse to gallop, and so doing, throws himself under the flying hooves. In love-unity there's no old or new. Everything is nothing. God alone is. For lovers the phenomena-veil is very transparent, and the delicate tracings on it cannot be explained with language. Clouds burn off as the sun rises, and the love-world floods with light. But cloud-water can be obscuring, as well as useful. There is an affection that covers the glory, rather than dissolving into it. It's a subtle difference, like the change in Persian from the word "friendship" to the word "work." That happens with just a dot above or below the third letter. There is a seeing of the beauty of union that doesn't actively work for the inner conversation. Your hand and feet must move, as a stream streams, working as its Self, to get to the ocean. Then there's no more mention of the search. Being famous, or being a disgrace, who's ahead or behind, these considerations are rocks and clogged places that slow you. Be as naked as a wheat grain out of its husk and sleek as Adam. Don't ask for anything other than the presence. Don't speak of a "you" apart from That. A full container cannot be more full. Be whole, and nothing.     -- from The Hand of Poetry: Five Mystic Poets of Persia, with Lectures by Inayat Khan, Translated by Coleman Barks Amazon.com
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

What a wonderful poem on the spiritual path.

There is so much to contemplate in this poem, but one of my favorite verses is: "The rider urges his horse to gallop, / and so doing, throws himself / under the flying hooves."

That's a striking image, but disturbing. What does Sanai mean by this?

The horse we ride is our love for the Divine. Urging that horse to a gallop is to raise that love to a high passion through spiritual practice. The "self" that we must throw under the "flying hooves" of divine love is the ego-self, the false self that slices up reality, proclaiming, "I like this, this is mine. I dislike that, that has nothing to do with me."

When that petty self is courageously thrown beneath the driving of divine love, we are surprised to find that our true Self lives. That self is actually the one riding the horse, it is the horse, it is the path the horse streams along. That greater self is not separate from anything; it is a part of the Divine Beloved. This is what Sanai refers to when, at the end he tells us, "Don't speak of a 'you' / apart from That."

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.
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