Lost In Myself Renderings
Farid ud-Din Attar
(12th century Persia – Sufi)
Lost in myself
I disappeared
I know not where.
A drop that rose
from the sea and fell
and dissolved again.
A shadow
that stretched
itself out at dawn.
When the sun
reached noon
I was no more.
I have no news
of my coming
or passing away.
The whole thing
happened quicker
than a breath.
Ask no questions
of the moth.
In the candle flame
of His Face
I have forgotten
all answers.
In the way of love
there must be both
knowledge and ignorance.
So I have become a dullard
and a sage.
One must be
an eye and yet
not perceive.
I am blind
so that I may see.
Dust be on my head,
if I can say where
in complete not-knowing
I have wandered.
Attar watched his heart
transcend both worlds,
and now in Its Light
is gone mad
with Love.
– – –
The whole world is a marketplace for Love,
For nothing that is remains remote from Love.
The Eternal Wisdom made all things in Love,
And on Love they all depend, as to Love all turn.
The earth, the heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars
The center of their orbits are found in Love.
By Love are all bewildered and stupefied,
Intoxicated by the Wine of Grace.
From each, Love demands a mystic silence.
What do all seek so earnestly? Love,
the subject of their inmost thoughts.
In Love “Thou” and “I” no longer exist,
For self has passed away in the Beloved.
Now will I draw aside the veil from Love,
And in the temple of mine inmost soul
Behold the Friend, Incomparable Love.
He who would know the secret of both worlds
Will find that the secret of them both is Love.
– – –
Joy! Joy! I triumph! Now no more I know
Myself as simply me. I burn with love
Unto myself, and bury myself in love.
The center is within me and its wonder
Lies as a circle everywhere about me.
Joy! Joy! No mortal thought can fathom me,
I am the merchant and the pearl at once.
Lo, Time and Space lie crouching at my feet.
Joy! Joy! When I would reveal in a rapture,
I plunge into myself and all things know.