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110 THE TARJCMAN AL-ASHWAQ (X XIX , X X X )

17. ‘ Their camels,’ i.e. the aspiratious which carry the
sciences and subtle essences of man to their goal.
18. ‘ A swift camel,’ i.e. an aspiration in himself.
19. ‘ Whose rapid journeying,’ etc., i.e. this aspiration was
connected with man^'' aspects of plurality which disappeared
in the course of its journey towards Unity.
20. ‘In the sandy tract of I.Mjir,’ i.e. a state which enabled
me to discriminate between phenomena and prevented me
from regarding anything except what this state revealed to me.
‘ She-camels followed by young ones,’ i.e. original sciences
from which other sciences are derived.
21. ‘ A moon of awful mien,’ i.e. a manife.station of Divine
majesty in the heart.
23. ‘ His footprints,’ i.e. the evidences which He adduced
as a clue to Himself.
‘ The train of his robe,’ i.e. His uniqueness and incoin-
parabilitj^
‘ So that thou wouldst be bewildei'ed,’ i.e. our knowledge
of Him is ignorance and bewilderment and helplessness. He
says this in order that gnostics may recognize the limits of
their knowledge of God.

XXX
1. In the tamarisk groves of al-Naqd is a flock of qatA birds
over wliom Beauty has pitched a tent,
2. And in the midst of the deserts of Idam are camels which
graze beside them and gazelles.
4. And mourn for the heart of a youth who left it on the
3. O my two friends, stop and beg speech of the relics of an
abode which has become ruined after them,

day when they departed, and weep and wail.
5. Perchance it may tell whither they were bound, to the
sands of the guarded pasture or to Quba.
(1. They saddled the camels and I ktiew not whether ’twas
from my heedlessness or because mine eye was dull.
7. ’Twas neither that nor this, but ’twas only a frenzy of
love which overwhelmed me.