Love plays its lute behind the screen
by Fakhruddin IraqiEnglish version by William Chittick and Peter Lamborn Wilson
Original Language Persian/Farsi
Love plays its lute behind the screen --
where is a lover to listen to its tune?
With every breath a new song,
each split second a new string plucked.
The world has spilled Love's secret --
when could music ever hold its tongue?
Every atom babbles the mystery --
Listen yourself, for I'm no tattletale!
 | -- from Fakhruddin Iraqi: Divine Flashes (Classics of Western Spirituality) , Translated by William Chittick / Translated by Nasr Seyyed Hossein |
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/ Image by DakKap /
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I like the way this poem starts out by teasing us with a riddle that can be read in two different ways--
Love plays its lute behind the screen --
where is a lover to listen to its tune?
On the one hand, Iraqi is chiding the world for not producing enough lovers of God. Love is eternally calling to us with its soft music from "behind the screen" of reality, but few are actually listening; lovers can't be found.
On a deeper level, it is understood that the true lover has no substance, because he or she is utterly merged into the Beloved, God. So, even where there are lovers, there are no lovers found.
The world has spilled Love's secret --
Whoever thinks divine love is just a philosophical notion, isn't really listening.
All of reality is filled with an inner music...
Every atom babbles the mystery --
...and that music is a song of love.
Listen yourself, for I'm no tattletale!
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