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76 THE TAKJUMAN AL-ASHWAQ (XIV, XV)

substance, then the union will be lasting; but if the mani­
festation be unchecked, it will sweep away all that exists
in its locus, and those who perish are not in fault.’ This is
the saying of one possessed and mastered by ecstas}\
XV
1. They left me at al-Uthayl and al-Naqa shedding tears
and complaining of the fire (that consumed, me).
2. My father be the ransom of him for whose sake I molted
with anguish! My fathe; be the ransom of him for
whose sake I died of fear !
3. The blush of shame on his cheek is the whiteness of dawn
conversing with the redness of eve.
4. Patience decamped and grief pitched tents, and I lie
prostrate between the.se two.
5. Who will compose my distracted thoughts ? Who will
relieve my pain ? Guide me to him ! Who will ease
my sorrow ? Who will help a passionate lover ?
6. Whenever I keep .secret the torments of desire, mj^ tears
betray the flame within and the sleeplessness.
7. And whenever I say, ‘ Give me one look ! ’ the answer is,
‘ Thou art not hindered but for pity’s .sake.’
8. It cannot be that one look from them will avail thee. Is
it aught but the glimpse of a levin that flushed ?
9. I am not forgetting the time when the camel-driver,
wishing for separation and seeking al-Abraq, urged
them on.
11. The raven of sejjaration is only a camel which carried
10. The ravens of separation croaked at them— may God not
preserve a raven that croaked !

away the loved ones with a swift wide-stej^ping pace.
C o m m e n t a r y
1. He laments the departure of his companions, viz. the
spiritual angelic beings who .suft'er no natural bondage, whilst
he is left a pri.soncr in this body, occupied >vith governing it
and prevented from wandering freely through the celestial
spheres.