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102 THE TARJUMAN AL-A.SHWAQ (X X V l)

4. In a meadow whose flies sang and hummed and a warbling
bird there answered them joyously.
0. Soft were its sides and soft its breeze, and the clouds were
flashing and thundering,
o
O'
6. And the raindrops were descending from the crevices of
the clouds like tears shed by a passionate lover
because he is parted from her he loves.
7. And drink the pure essence of its wine with its intoxication,
and listen rapturously to a singer who chanteth there:
8. ‘ O the pure wine that in Adam’s time related concerning
the Garden of Eden an authentic tradition !
9. Verily, the fair women scattered it from the water of their
mouths like musk and the virgins bestowed it on us
without stint.’

CO M M EXTARY
1. ‘ In the valley-curve between the two stony tracts,’
1. e. in the place where,Divine favours are bestowed on the
soul which is the loom of an Essential manifestation.
'

•The trysting-place,’ referring either to the station of
Faith or to God’s taking a covenant from the souls of
mankind.
‘ The journey’s end,’ i.e. the mystery of everlasting life.
2. ‘ Do not seek,’ etc., in accordance with the Tradition,
‘ There is no mark beyond God.’
3. ‘ And play,’ etc., referring to the various states of this
gnostic in which he is transported from oUe Divine Name to
another. ‘ Full-breasted damsels ’ and ‘ shy gazelles’ refer to
the abstruse sciences of pure unification.
the Holy Names contained in it.
4. ‘ In a meadow,’ i.e. the Divine Presence, together with

‘ Flies,’ i.e. subtle spirits.
‘ A warbling bird,’ i.e. the human soul, in respect of the
forms with which it is endued in every sphere and station.
5. ‘ Were flasliing and thundering,’ in reference to the two
states, viz. contemplation and interlocution
Cf. Kor. ii, 206, and the Tradition, ‘ God was in a dense
cloud; there was no air above Him or below Him.’