Number 5

QitʿaIraqi style
English

Number 5

If you long for the world of the soul, you must be born from renouncing the pomp of kings. With courage, take the unstrung bow and turn it into two straight lines, for the task is simple. After that, when only the point of the spirit remains, to stay stuck there is no work for real men. Turn the point into a zero and be reborn, so you may know that everything is the glory of God.
Explanation: The poem plays on the shapes of Persian letters and numerals as a mystical path of self-erasure: the point of the ego dissolves into zero, mirroring annihilation into the divine.

Original · Persian

شمارهٔ ۵

گر ترا میل عالم جانست زاده ترک سین ساسانست
از شهامت کمان بی زه را دو الف کن، که کار آسانست
بعد از آنت چو ماند نقطه روح باز ماندن نه کار مردانست
نقطه را صفر ساز و ثانی شو تا بدانی که جمله سبحانست