THE KASÎDAH IX, 37, 48

Finds mirth and joy in Jamshid-bowl;
 toys with the Daughter of the vine;
And bids the beauteous cup-boy say,
 “Master I bring thee ruby wine!”

Sips from the maiden’s lips the dew;
 brushes the bloom from virgin brow:—
Such is his fleshly bliss that strives
 the Maker through the Made to know.

I’ve tried them all, I find them all
 so same and tame, so drear, so dry;
My gorge ariseth at the thought;
 I commune with myself and cry:—

THE KASÎDAH IX, 13, 24

One way, two paths, one end the grave.
 This runs athwart the flow’ery plain,
That breasts the bush, the steep, the crag,
 in sun and wind and snow and rain:

Who treads the first must look adown,
 must deem his life an all in all;
Must see no heights where man may rise,
 must sight no depths where man may fall.

Allah in Adam form must view;
 adore the Maker in the made.
Content to bask in Mâyâ’s smile,
 in joys of pain, in lights of shade.

THE KASÎDAH VII, 61, 76

Vain cavil! all that is hath come
 either by Mir’acle or by Law;—
Why waste on this your hate and fear,
 why waste on that your love and awe?

Why heap such hatred on a word,
 why “Prototype” to type assign,
Why upon matter spirit mass?
 wants an appendix your design?

Is not the highest honour his
 who from the worst hath drawn the best;
May not your Maker make the world
 from matter, an it suit His hest?

Nay more, the sordider the stuff
 the cunninger the workman’s hand:
Cease, then, your own Almighty Power
 to bind, to bound, to understand.

THE KASÎDAH IV, 33, 48

“How may the passing Now contain
 the standing Now—Eternity?—
“An endless is without a was,
 the be and never the to-be?

“Who made your Maker? If Self-made,
 why fare so far to fare the worse
“Sufficeth not a world of worlds,
 a self-made chain of universe?

“Grant an Idea, Primal Cause,
 the Causing Cause, why crave for more?
“Why strive its depth and breadth to mete,
 to trace its work, its aid to ’implore?

“Unknown, Incomprehensible,
 whate’er you choose to call it, call;
“But leave it vague as airy space,
 dark in its darkness mystical.

THE KASÎDAH IV, 17, 32

“All matter hath a birth and death;
 ’tis made, unmade and made anew;
“We choose to call the Maker ‘God’:—
 such is the Zâhid’s owly view.

“You changeful finite Creatures strain”
 (rejoins the Drawer of the Wine)
“The dizzy depths of Inf’inite Power
 to fathom with your foot of twine”;

“Poor idols of man’s heart and head
 with the Divine Idea to blend;
“To preach as ‘Nature’s Common Course’
 what any hour may shift or end.”

“How shall the Shown pretend to ken
 aught of the Showman or the Show?
“Why meanly bargain to believe,
 which only means thou ne’er canst know?

THE KASÎDAH III, 153, 168

Dost not, O Maker, blush to hear,
 amid the storm of tears and blood,
Man say Thy mercy made what is,
 and saw the made and said ’twas good?

The marvel is that man can smile
 dreaming his ghostly ghastly dream;-
Better the heedless atomy
 that buzzes in the morning beam!

O the dread pathos of our lives!
 how durst thou, Allah, thus to play
With Love, Affection, Friendship, all
 that shows the god in mortal clay?

But ah! what ’vaileth man to mourn;
 shall tears bring forth what smiles ne’er brought;
Shall brooding breed a thought of joy?
 Ah hush the sigh, forget the thought!