In the Mirror

In the Mirror


(1)

Kaf Ha Ya

'Ain Shad

Ha Mim

Nun

Sin Qaf


(2)

O You,

Who have removed the velvet curtains

With Your own hand,

From the entrance into Your aloneness,

For Love's ancient sake.


O Home to sighing rivulets,

O Brightness of my eyes,

O Heart of morning calm,


What song shall encompass

That moment without doubting,


As the Hour drew near,

As Your sweetness calmed my fears,

As You removed the veil,

In a traceless place alien unto shaded illusions,

Whispering unto my long-unbefriended soul,


"By Love, you are mine,

By Myself, I am yours,

Now, once and for all, be Real."


(3)

So long as Love's impulses remain,

Be mine O my Love,

Be mine beyond need and reason,

Hold me in Eternity's breath,


Sweet dewsong of mine,

Use me as a lyre for Your whispers,

As a sun to warm hearts,

And as a brush to paint Love's endless desire.


(4)

O Sweetheart,

You who are both open and secret,

Like faint rays of the morning light,

Let whatever exists between Kaf and Nun

Vanish like vapor and shadows,

Just not You, O my Love,

Not You!


(5)

In the silhouette of dark and light,

In the world of ignorance,

How many are bereft of the Beauty that You are?


Come, O dervish, come!

From whichever direction you proceed,

Come, take the Beloved's Heart!


Wake up, wake up now

To the aching loveliness in Love's smile,

Wake up, wake up now

To the Light in your own seeking and finding,

Wake up, wake up now

To the austere sweetness of Union.


Wake up and simply blend your breath and shyness

With whatever sways with the breeze,

In devotion to Love's Face.


(6)

O Salik,

A dream that lasts a thousand years is but a dream!

Draw close,

Be present, and

Kiss the Real,

And only then shall all life begin.


(7)

O this shaken loneliness,

Tell me of the Beloved,

My Sweetheart,

Who is the dawn unto my night and the noon unto my day,

My lost dream in this distant land,

An ancient depth calling upon my depth,

A firmament unto the melting snow.


(8)

At the approach of the Beloved,

I saw Her in the mirror of my heart,

As Love ushered my soul into Her burning desire.


And I said unto Her loveliness,

"O my Love, am I naught but Yourself?"

And She said unto my vanity,

"No, Sunshine, but I am naught but yourself."


(9)

Have you not heard?

When she speaks, my voice is in Her voice,

In the silent presence of Love's rising sun,


How long, my dear Friend, have we been hiding from each other?

How am I supposed to recall and measure my longing

For the anxious Hour of Your coming?


How many songless nights have passed me by,

With their yearning to fade away and be gone?


(10)

O you who describe yourself as a Sufi,

Are you still in quest of other shores?

How long has the formless in you been seeking form?

What dawning Love has betrayed and preceded your breathing?


Are you not that mist I saw long before the nebulae, stars, and moons

Came into existence?


Are you not the shyness of Love's own presence during waking hours?

Are you not Love's own tenderness sung in secret?

Are you not the taste of Love's own devotion?


At last, my friend,

Hold me tight and close,

And closer and closer still,

And come to rest tonight,

For I've heard the Beloved swear in Love's Holy Name,

That We'll never ever part.


(11)

O Sweetheart,

In pain did I seek You and make pilgrimage

Unto Your solitude, like a somber ghost,

And a gaze from Your consent swiftly broke

The confining symmetry of my orbit into passion and freedom.


(12)

O you who claim to befriend vision and inherit life!

Can you see Us, the Beloved and I?


My Sweetheart has drawn Her mood towards mine,

Her kisses belong to me tonight and for all other nights!

What quivering trace is there to mirror how I feel?


Yes, tonight She is mine,

For She has offered Herself unto me!

What is there that can claim or buy this Love?


O you who traverse empty distances like a weary, orphaned pilgrim!

Hear this Intimacy spoken in a strange tongue,

Or hear nothing at all!


Enter Us now, for there is nothing outside this 'now',

Don't be like passing winds

In the mist of Our togetherness!


Shall not Love flow in your veins like this?

Shall not your myriad painted images fall at last

Like cascades of wine?


(13)

O that wider horizon,

O that moving sea,

O that once lonely shore!


Tell me of secrets that run in streams,

Tell me of the sweet little things kissed by the light at dawn,

Tell me of the early morning dew that mirrors the vast heavens,

In the stillness of the night,

As the candle burns down unconfounded,

As all the winds turn into chants and songs,

As this wayfarer finally encounters his treasure,

In Love's spacious sky,

And deems himself alive.


Among those who love and are beloved,

Among those who speak with a vast voice,

Among those who shine in the sun,

I see you, O myself,

In this blossoming garden without walls,

In the perpetual morning rain,

In this unpraised glimmer of dewdrops,

In the mirror of little things.


Ishq,

Dani