Poet Without a Poem

“The most pitiful of wretches is he who feels nothing, not he who suffers. ”

Mutanabbi

“Everything comes from the Quran and its treasures.. Plunge in the ocean of the Quran if you can breath deeply. Otherwise content yourself with the study of commentaries of its apparent meaning.”

Ibn Arabi

“Seaweed farmer, Zanzibar”

“When you work you fulfill a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when your dream was born.”
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

An Ocean without Shore

I marveled at an Ocean without shore,
and at a Shore that did not have an ocean;
And at a Morning Light without darkness,
and at a Night that was without daybreak;
And then a Sphere with no locality
known to either fool or learned scholar;
And at an azure Dome raised over the earth,
circulating ‘round its center - Compulsion;
And at a rich Earth without o’er-arching vault
and no specific location, the Secret concealed…

I courted a Secret which existence did not alter;
for it was asked of me: “Has Thought enchanted you? “
- To which I replied: “I have no power over that;
I counsel you: Be patient with it while you live.
But, truly, if Thought becomes established
in my mind, the embers kindle into flame,
And everything is given up to fire
the like of which was never seen before!”
And it was said to me: “He does not pluck a flower
who calls himself with courtesy ‘Freeborn’.”
“He who woos the belle femme in her boudoir, love-beguiled,
will never deem the bridal-price too high!”

I gave her the dower and was given her in marriage
throughout the night until the break of Dawn -
But other than Myself I did not find. - Rather,
that One whom I married - may his affair be known:
For added to the Sun’s measure of light
are the radiant New Moon and shining Stars;
Like Time, dispraised - though the Prophet (Blessings on him!)
had once declared of your Lord that He is Time.

Thenceforth were your hearts hardened:
They became like a rock and even worse in hardness.
For among rocks there are some from which rivers gush forth;
others there are which when split asunder send forth water;
and others which sink for fear of Allah.
And Allah is not unmindful of what ye do.

“The poor is god on earth.”

Empire

“For it is the heart that knows God,
and strives toward God,
and draws near to Him,
and reveals that which is in
the presence of God.”
Al Ghazali

Mongolia, where the mountains were my walls and sky was my roof. 

Mongolia, where the mountains were my walls and the Sky was my roof.

Life asked death, 

“Why do people love me, but hate you?”

Death responded,

“Because you are a beautiful lie, and I am a painful truth.”