Rubaiyat

The idol said to the idol-worshiper: You who kneel to me, do you know why you bow down before me? The one you truly watch and witness through me has revealed his own beauty upon our face.

Though both worlds, from end to end, are His own being, why is the human the kernel and the universe the shell? It is because the human is the pupil of His eye, and He, in turn, is the mirror that holds the human's face.

The men are all lost in ecstasy, yet the reed pipe cannot be seen; the drunkards are all in plain sight, yet the wine cannot be seen. A hundred caravans have passed down this road before, and the strange thing is that not a single trace of them can be seen.

There is no one without a path leading toward you; without the intoxication of your love, not a stone, a flower, or a blade of grass has any worth. You cannot find a single speck among all the specks of the world that does not carry a moon of your love shining in its heart.

They chased their evenings without ever reaching the dawn they longed for, and never took a single step beyond their own selves. A crowd of common people came dressed in the robes of the elite, dragging the good name of the honorable through the mud.

Before there was any before or after, when this before and after did not yet exist, when there was no nation, no religion, no creed, no faith. All this talk of me and you, of us and them, in His presence was never more than a single One.

Your beauty shows itself in everything on view, and your eye is the watcher in every scene. Because of the light of your face and the darkness of your hair, one crowd becomes believers and another stays faithless.

I am the seed to the mole in your hair that is my snare; I am the mirror that holds the face of my beloved. I am the cup of the wine of sorrow you brew to the end; I am the mirror that shows you the world, and I am your goblet too.

I am the comb that runs through your amber-scented hair, the artist who adorns your heart-winning face. I am the pupil in your bewitching eyes, and the mirror where your face reveals its glow.

I have come drunk, ruined, worshipping wine, dazed by the wine poured at the dawn of creation. Don't imagine I will ever turn sober again: I will leave drunk, because I arrived drunk.

Since I came from nothingness into being, I came to bear witness, to see the truth with my own eyes. Since I rose up and then bowed down again, I came to prostrate myself before your face.

When I look at faces beautiful as angels, no face appears to me but yours. In every lovely face, at every moment, the beauty of your face reveals itself to me in a new way.

I'll start with joy and pleasure and delight, and throw myself into the tavern of the free. From there I'll make my way to the gambling house, and lose every last thing I own.

How long will I keep lighting the flame of remembrance with a spirit that's grown cold? How long will I sing your praises with a heart this withered? I let the prayer I never offered slip away, but if I have life left, I'll make up for what I've done.

I am the guide for those who seek the truth; I am the master of the arts of adding and subtracting. Since I hold knowledge, modesty, patience, and honesty, I am Uthman and Umar, Ali and the Truthful one.

The one through whom I hear, I speak, and the one for whom I search in every direction, it is He within me who says at every moment, openly and in secret: He is I, and I am He.

We are the treasure whose seal is the whole world; we are the essence, and Adam is our attribute made visible. You who are searching for the Greatest Name of God: do not pass us by, for that Greatest Name is us.

The world is only a veil over the face of my beloved; on the sea of his being, the world is a single bubble. In the eyes of those who thirst for the water of existence, the world is a mirage in the desert of their longing.

Your face has appeared in the cup that mirrors the world, and from your sweet name the world took its own name. You are all that is visible in the world and all that is hidden; you are the world's beginning and its end.

Now and then I wrestle with myself, and I see that, like a tangled thread, I am all knots. How could I ever claim to be something? I am nothing, for when I look again, I find that I truly am nothing at all.

The sun of your face shows itself in every atom of both worlds; your essence, by its quality, defines the being of both worlds. Your beauty has given existence to nothingness itself; from negation you brought forth the very proof of both worlds.

You are drunk on yourself, and we are all drunk on you; you exist through yourself, and we all exist through you. Since in every way our being belongs to you, we have surrendered ourselves entirely into your hands.

Who is this that is other than you? Tell me who it is. Where does he come from, what is he even made of? Tell me. Since surely nothing has any life apart from you, then whoever exists besides you, how does he live? Tell me.

You came from God, and for God's sake alone; you didn't come for the sake of play and passing desires. Strive to know and worship God, for this is the only reason you came into this house of the world.

Once you know where you came from, who sent you here, and why you came, then rise, step forward, and strive with courage, if indeed you came for the sake of God.