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THE TARJUMAX AL-ASHWAQ (X Vl) 79

o£ by a kind of association Nevertheless,
her staying in the heart is more desirable than her going, for
she protects the gnostic as long as she is there.
‘ And Jet fall tears,’ etc. : she let loose in the heart sciences
of contemplation which produced an intense yearning.
4. ‘ Al-Khawarnaq and as-Sadir,’ i.e. the Divine presence.
5. ‘ Perdition! ’ i.e. death to the phenomenal world now
that these sublime mysteries have vanished from it.
‘ Dost thou invoke perdition ? ’ i.e. wh}"^ dost thou not see
the face of God in everylShing, in light and darkness, in
simple and composite, in subtle and gross, in order that thou
mayst not feel the grief of parting.
6. ‘ Cry “ Perdition!” many times’ (cf. Kor. xxv, 15),
i.e. not only in this station but in every station in which
thou art placed, for thou must bid farewell to every one of
them, and thou canst not fail to be grieved, since, whenever
the form of the Truth disappears from thee, thou imaginest
that He has left thee; but He has not left thee, and it is
only thy remaining with thyself (l Cst^ that veils

from thee the vision of that which pervades the whole of
creation.
7. 'O dove of the arAk trees’ : he addresses holy influences
of Divine pleasure which have descended upon him.
‘ Have a little pity on me ! ’ i.e. pity inj'^ weakness and
inability to attain unto thy purity.
‘For parting only increased thy moans’ : he says, ‘ Inasmuch
as thy substance only exists through and in me, and I am
keeps me in bondage, for this cause thou art lamenting thy
diverted from thee by the dark world of phenomena which

separation from me.’
8. ‘ And thy lamentation,’ etc., i.e. we Avho seek the
unbounded freedom of the celestial world should weep moie
bitterly than thou.
‘ Excites the jealous ’ : jealousy arises fi-om regarding
others and he who beholds God in everything feels
no jealousy, for God is One; but since God manifests Himself
in various forms, the term ‘ jealousy ’ is applicable to Him.