My God, first send me the bread I call for from the unseen skies;
then invite me as a guest to eat at your table.
To thank you for your endless gifts,
send me a gift with no bound, no limit, no end.
As my body is always visible and my soul always hidden,
send me strength and sustenance, both seen and unseen.
So that a wave may pull me from the shore back into the open sea,
send me a hundred waves each moment, like the Sea of Oman.
I am no ordinary beggar, unworthy of true servitude;
when you grant me servitude, make me a king and a sultan in it.
My God, since you made me a headman with no means and no household,
send me whatever you know a headman needs.
Since you have made me king in the realm of nothingness and poverty,
send me tribute and taxes from all the other kings, moment by moment.
Whatever you know I need each month and each year,
if you send it, send me that much every year afterward.
In Maghrebi's own words, by the glory of kingdom and faith, say:
from your own store, send me sheep and wheat and bread.
Explanation: Maghrebi (the poet's pen name) closes the poem, a common device in Persian ghazals. The 'Sea of Oman' evokes vast, ceaseless abundance.
Original
شمارهٔ ۱
زآسمان غیبت اول ایزدا خوانم فرست
پس برای خوردن خوان تو مهمانم فرست
از برای شکر نعمتهای بی پایان تو
نعمت بی منتها و حد و پایانم فرست
چون تنم پیدا و جانم هست پنهان دایما
قوت و قوتی تو بی پیدا و پنهانم فرست
تا مگر موجی کشد بازم ز ساحل در محیط
هر زمان صد موج چون دریای عمانم فرست
نیست ما را هر گدایی چون سزای بندگی
چون فرستی بندگی را شاه و سلطانم فرست
ای خدا چون کدخدایم ساختی بی کد و کد
آنچه دانی کدخدا را باید آن، آنم فرست
چونکه در ملک فنا و فقر شاهم کرده ای
هر زمان باج و خراج از پیش شاهانم فرست
آنچه دانی هر مه و هر سال می باید مرا
گر فرستی بعد از آن هر سال چندانم فرست
از زبان مغربی با عز ملک و دین بگو
کز بر خود گوسفند و گندم و نانم فرست
Like an endless sea, its waves never stop; the many waves are the veil that hides the one.
The world and all it holds is the sea's motion, casting up from the deep onto the shore.
My heart, which is the shore of his infinite sea, forever needs the waves of that sea.
The only cure for my heart's pain is the sea's wave; what a strange ache, whose wave is its own remedy and cure.
Whoever a wave carried from the shore into the sea came to know the secret of truth and ascension.
Not every bit of straw draws pearls and jewels from this ocean; one gets only straw from it, another a gem and a crown.
From this ocean, beside which the whole world is a mirage, mine is sweet fresh water, and yours the bitter salt.
If water differs in color and taste, that comes from the difference of place and the shifting of temperament.
Whatever Maghrebi gathered from all creation, the surrounding sea plundered in a single moment.
Explanation: The sea is a classic Sufi image for divine unity, its waves for the plurality of created things. Maghrebi is the poet's pen name, used in the closing couplet as is customary.
Original
شمارهٔ ۲
چو بحرنامتناهی ست دایما امواج
حجاب وحدت ریاست کثرت امواج
جهان و هر چه درو هست جنبش دریاست
ز قعر بحر به ساحل همی کند اخراج
دلم که ساحل دریای بی نهایت اوست
بود مدام به امواج بحر او محتاج
علاج درد دلم غیر موج دریا نیست
چه طرفه درد که موجش بود دوا و علاج
کسی که موج به دریا کشیدش از ساحل
وقوف یافت ز سر حقیقت و معراج
به هر خسی نرسد زین محیط در و گهر
یکی به خس رسد از وی، یکی به گوهر و تاج
ازین محیط که عالم به جنب اوست سراب
مراست عذب فرات و تو راست ملح اجاج
به لون و طعم اگر آب مختلف باشد
ز اختلاف محل است و انحراف مزاج
هر آنچه مغربی از کاینات حاصل کرد
بکرد بحر محیطش به یک زمان تاراج
Every moment she shows her face like a new fairy, so that each instant she pulls my collar from another direction.
I will not take back my heart from her hand, for that soul of the world keeps asking my heart for another act of tenderness each moment.
How can anyone claim to be free when the wind drags him, every moment, into the chains of yet another lock of her hair?
When in his whole life could he ever find peace of mind, when every moment brings him another troubled face to adore?
How can I bow my head at the prayer niche to worship, when at every instant a new arched eyebrow is my direction of prayer?
How can I be content with one aspect, when the beauty of her face keeps showing me another face from every angle?
Do not look for that graceful cypress by a single stream, for every moment she is strolling gracefully by another one.
If you saw her radiant with one beauty on some street, turn around and you will find her with a different beauty on another street.
Even though she has no color and no scent at all, I see her every moment in another color and another scent.
She had told Maghrebi: you must take on my ways. But how can he take them on, when she has another mood every moment?
Explanation: The beloved represents the ever-shifting divine beauty that appears in endless forms, a common theme in mystical Persian poetry. 'Maghrebi' is the poet's own pen name, addressing himself in the final couplet.
Original
شمارهٔ ۳
می نماید هر زمان روی از پریرویی دگر
تا کشد هر دم گریبان من از سویی دگر
دل نخواهم بردن از دستش که آن جان جهان
دل همی جوید ز من هر دم به دلجویی دگر
چون تواند دم ز آزادی زدن آن کس که باد
هر زمانش می کشد در بند گیسویی دگر
روی جمعیت کجا بیند به عمر خویشتن
آنکه باشد هر زمان آشفته رویی دگر
سر به محراب از برای سجده کی آرم فرود
من که دارم قبله هر دم طاق ابرویی دگر
من به یک رو چون شوم قانع که حسن روی او
می نماید هر دم از هر رو مرا رویی دگر
بر لب یک جو مجو آن سرو رعنا را که او
هر زمان باشد خرامان بر لب جویی دگر
بر سر کویی به حسنی جلوه گر دیدیش رو
تا به حسن دیگرش بینی تو در کویی دگر
با وجود آنکه او را هیچ رنگ و بوی نیست
بینمش هر دم به رنگ دیگر و بویی دگر
گفته بود او مغربی را خوی ما باید گرفت
چون بگیرد چونک دارد هر زمان خویی دگر؟
I cannot grasp what love this is, that every speck of the world is born of it; I cannot grasp what face this is, of which Adam is the mirror.
Sometimes He erases me completely, sometimes He affirms me; and I am left bewildered, lost between His denial and His confirmation.
If He is the candle, I circle Him like a moth; if He becomes the lamp, then I am, of necessity, its niche.
Since I am lost, dissolved in His essence, how could I know His attributes? Only one not yet dissolved in His essence can know them.
On this road there came both the Christian and the fire-worshipper, believer and unbeliever, for one saw that guiding spirit in Jesus, the other in idols like al-Uzza and al-Lat.
If you cannot see His essence and attributes plainly, then read them all as signs in the great book of the horizons and of your own soul.
Come, my dear, to the Sinai of the heart, so that from there you may learn the story of Moses, son of Amram, and Mount Sinai, and his appointed meeting with God.
How could you ever know the joy of seeing Him, when your whole desire is for the heavenly maidens and the pleasures of paradise?
O Maghrebi, in this way you see nothing but a body, made of earth and water, of wind and fire.
Explanation: The candle, moth, lamp, and niche are Sufi images for the soul's annihilation in the divine; al-Uzza and al-Lat were pre-Islamic Arabian idols, here standing for all forms of worship. 'Maghrebi' is the poet's own pen name.
Original
شمارهٔ ۴
چه مهرست آن نمی دانم که عالم هست ذراتش
چه چهرست آن نمی دانم که آدم هست مرآتس
گهی نفیم کند کلی زمانی سازدم مثبت
منم سرگشته و حیران میان نفی و اثباتش
اگر او شمع می باشد منش پروانه می گردم
وگر مصباح می گردد منم ناچار مشکاتش
منم چون محو در ذاتش صفاتش را کجا دانم
صفاتش را کسی داند که نبود محو در ذاتش
از آن ترسا و گبر آمد درین ره کافر و ترسا
که کرد آن خضر در عیسی و این در عزی و لاتش
اگر ذات و صفاتش را نمی بینی عیان، باری
ببین در مصحف آفاق و انفس جمله آیاتش
بیا بر طور دل جاناکه تا واقف شوی زآنجا
ز حال موسی عمران و کوه طور و میقاتش
تو را از لذت دیدار هرگز کی خبر باشد
که میلت جمله با حور است و با لذات جناتش
الا ای مغربی زانسان به جز جسمی نمی بینی
که آن از خاک و از آب ست و ز بادست وز آتش
I found endless treasures in the corner of my soul.
Look at this corner of the soul, how it became the mine of that limitless wealth.
My soul stepped out of the world of names and marks;
it lost every trace, and so entered the traceless world.
The moment a treasure appeared in the ruined dwelling of the heart,
that ruined dwelling was made whole and prosperous, end to end.
At every instant, from the road of truth, into the city of the heart
come a hundred thousand caravans loaded with endless goods.
Once the city of the heart was made prosperous, with each breath
caravans keep flowing from truth toward that city.
The heart reached the treasure without suffering any hardship;
suddenly a boundless treasure fell into its hands from the unseen.
In the dark night of the body, a daylight rose from the heart;
a sun climbed all at once out of the sky of the soul.
A sun descended from the wheel of heaven onto the ground of the heart,
lifting that ground up past a thousand skies.
When the eastern sun shone upon the western one,
every atom of the world became clear to the western one.
Explanation: The 'ruined dwelling of the heart' plays on a Persian image where a broken or empty heart becomes the site of spiritual abundance. 'East' and 'west' suggest the meeting of divine light with the receiving soul.
Original
شمارهٔ ۵
گنجهای بی نهایت یافتم در کنج جان
کنج جان را بین که چون شد کان گنج بیکران
جان من از عالم نام و نشان آمد برون
بی نشان شد تا در آمد در جهان بی نشان
تا که آمد در خراب آباد دل گنجی پدید
تا خراب آباد دل شد سر به سر معمور از آن
هر زمان آید به شهرستان دل از راه حق
با متاع بی نهایت صد هزاران کاروان
چونکه شهرستان دل معمور شد در هر نفس
کاروانها گردد از حق سوی شهرستان روان
دل نبرده هیچ رنجی بر سر گنجی رسید
آمدش ناگه به دست از غیب گنجی بیکران
در شب تاریک تن روزی پدید آمد ز دل
آفتابی ز آسمان جان برآمد ناگهان
آفتابی بر زمین دل فرود آمد ز چرخ
تا زمین را بگذرانید از هزاران آسمان
تا تجلی کرد مهر مشرقی بر مغربی
مغربی را جمله ذرات عالم شد عیان
Pour me the wine of oneness, cupbearer. Free me for one moment from myself, from my chains and my releasing.
With the pure wine of oneness, dissolve me so completely that I pass away from what perishes and endure with the One who endures.
Let me drink its nectar from the cup of His face, perfume me with His fragrance and the taste of those who truly taste.
The pure wine of oneness can free me from the grip of idolatry and unbelief, of religion, hypocrisy and pretense.
Do not ask me about my grace, my gathering, my union, nor about my loss, my ecstasy, or the states of my longing.
You are like my separation and my union, my parting and my gathering; you are like my loss and my ecstasy, and even more than I, you are the one who longs.
Do you not see my condition? Do you not see my mind? Do you not see my essence, my names, and my character?
It is you who gaze from the eyes of lovers upon the faces of the beautiful, for you are the beauty of every lovely one and the light in the eyes of lovers.
I do not know who this Maghrebi himself is, who keeps saying: I am the sun that has risen, and this is the light of my dawning.
Explanation: This is a macaronic poem mixing Arabic and Persian lines, a common mystical style. Maghrebi is the poet's pen name; the final self reference echoes the ecstatic 'I am the Truth' tradition.
Original
شمارهٔ ۶
ادرلی راح توحید الا یا ایها الساقی
ارحنی ساعه عنی و عن قیدی و اطلاقی
به جام صرف توحیدم بدان سان محو کن از خود
که از فانی شوم فانی و با باقی شوم باقی
و اشربنی حمیاه بکاس من محیاه
واعطرنی بریاه و ذوق اهل اذواقی
شراب ناب توحیدم تواند وارهانیدن
ز دست شرک و کفر و دین و سالوسی و زراقی
ولا تسالنی عن فضلی وعن جمعی و عن وصلی
و عن فقدی و عن وجدی و عن حالات اشواقی
تویی چون فصل و وصل من، تویی چون فرق و جمع من
تویی چون فقد و وجد من بل از من هم تو مشتاقی
اما تنظر الی حالی اما تنظر الی بالی
اما تنظر الی ذاتی و اسمایی و اخلاقی
تویی از دیده عشاق ناظر در پری رویان
که حسن جمله خوبان و نور چشم عشاقی
ندانم مغربی خود کیست کو پیوسته می گوید
انا الشمس التی طلعت و هذا نور اشراقی