DEATH-BED REPENTANCE

A true believer said: "There is a crowd
Who when they come to die will cry loud
And turn to God. But they are fools; they should
Have spent their lives in seeking what is good.
When leaves are falling it's to late to sow;
Repentence on a death-bed is too slow-
The time to turn aside has flown; be sure
whoever waits till then will die impure"

The Devil Complain

A sluggard once approached a fasting saint
And baffled by despair, made this complain:
"The devil is a highwayman, a thief,
Who's ruined me and robbed me of belief."
The saint replied: "Young man, the devil too
Has made his way here to complain- of you.
'My province is the world,' I heard him say;
'Tell this new pilgrim of God's holy Way
To keep his hands off what is mine- if I
Attack him it's because his fingers pry
In my affairs; if he will leave me be,
He's no concern of mine and can go free'."

ATTAR

THE STORY OF KING MAS'OUD AND THE FISHERBOY

He said: 'King Mas'oud, riding out one day,
Was parted from his army on the way.
Swift as the wind he galloped till he saw
A little boy sat by the ocean's shore.
The child was fishing-as he cast his hook,
The king dismounted with a friendly look
And sat by him; but the unhappy child
Was troubled in his heart and hardly smiled.
"You seem the saddest boy I've ever seen,"
The monarch said. "what such sorrow mean?"
"Our father's gone; for seven children I
Must cast my line" was his subdued reply.
"our mother's paralysed and we are poor;
It is for food that I must haunt this shore-
I come to fish here in the dawn,s first light
And cannot leave until the fall of night.
The merge harvest of my toil and pain
Must last us all till I return again."
The king said: "Let's be friends, do you agree?"
The poor child nodded and, immediately,
His new friend cast their line into the sea.
That day the boy drew up a hundred fish.
"This wealth is far beyond my wildest wish,"
He said: "A splendid haul,"the king replied.
"Good Fortune has been busy at your side-
Accept your luck, don't try to comprehend
How this has happened;you'd be lost, my friend.
Your wealth is greater than my own; today
A king has fished for you- I cannot stay."
He leap onto his horse. "But take your share,"
The boy said earnestly. "That's only fair."
"Tomorrow's catch is mine. We won't divide
Today's; you have it all," the king replied.
"Tomorrow when I fish you are the prey,
A trophy I refuse to give away."
The next day, walking in his garden's shade,
The king recalled the friend that he had made.
A captain fetched the boy, and this unknown
Was at the king's command set on his throne.
The courtier murmured at his poverty-
"He is my friend, this fact suffices me;
He is my equal here in everything,
The partner of my throne," declared the king;
To every taunt the boy had one reply:
"My sadness vanished when the king passed by."

ATTAR

FAME

I walked upon the sand at ebb-tide.
And bending down, I wrote a line upon the sand.
And in that line I wrote what my mind thought
And what my soul desired.

And when the tide was high,
I returned to that very shore,
And of that which I had written I found naught.
I found only the staff marks of one who had walked blindly.

                                                                KAHLIL -GIBRAN

LOVE TRIANGLE

One night, out of unbearable pain
The moth came out and put on a claim:
He asked the candle: Pray!
How long will you be burning me thus, in dismay?
And the candle said in return:
You heedless creature, what do you say?
You in the blink of an eye
And are freed from suffering and pain.
All along the night till morning
I spend my time weeping and burning in agony.
At times, I laugh but it is at myself;
At times, I weep in mourning....
There exist another candle but hidden from sight;
A candle which is neither lit nor extinct.
To that candle I am the moth, the ardent moth
And from that comes my disposition to wailing
It makes me burn as I make you burn:
This is ultimate sign of love
Why do you thus bully me, since like you
I spend my days in unbearable pain?
If that candle would shine from the invisible world
So many moths will fall prey to Him.
'Attar shall continue candle-like to burn
A long as there is a trace of him to burn.

                                                                ATTAR

MY SOUL COUNSELLED ME

My soul counselled me and charged me to
listen for voices that rise neither from
the tongue nor the throat.
Before that day I heard but dully, and
naught save the clamour and loud cries
came to my ears.
But now I have learned to listen to silence,
To hear its choirs singing the songs of ages,
Chanting the hymns of space, and disclosing
the secrets of eternity.

KAHLIL- GIBRAN

MARRIAGE

Ay, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God.
But let there be spaces in your togetherness,
And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores
of your souls.
Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.
Give one another of your bread but eat not from
the same loaf.
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let
each one of you be alone,
Even as the string of a lute are alone though
they quiver with the same music.


KAHLIL-GIBRAN

GIVING

You often say, "I would give, but only to the deserving."
The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in
your pasture.
They give that they may live, for to with hold is to perish...
So first that you may yourself deserve to be giver, and
instrument of giving.
For in truth it is life gives unto life- while you, who deem
yourself a giver, are but a witness.

KAHLIL GIBRAN

TALKING

And then a scholar said, Speak of Talking.
And he answered, saying:
You talk when you cease to be at peace with
 your thoughts:
And when you can no longer dwell in the solitude
of your heart you live in your lips, and sound is a
diversion and a pastime.
And in much of your talking, thinking is half murdered.
For thought is a bird of space, that in a cage of words
may indeed unfold its wings but cannot fly.

KAHLIL GIBRAN

GROWING

  Sometimes it seems to me that He heard the murmuring pain of all things grow in the sun, and that then He lifted them
up and supported them, not only by His own knowledge,but also
by disclosing to them their own power to rise and become whole.


KAHLIL GIBRAN

AYAZ'S SICKNESS

Ayaz, afflicted with the Evil Eye,
Fell ill. For safety he was forced to lie
Sequestered from the court, in loneliness.
The king (who loved him) heard of his distress
And called a servant. "Tell Ayaz," he said,
"What tears of sympathy I daily shed.
Tell him that I endure his suffering,
And hardly comprehend I am the king;
My soul is with him (though my flesh is here)
And guards his bed solicitous with fear;
Ayaz, what could this Evil Eye not do,
If it destroy such loveliness as you!"
The king was silent; then again he spoke:
"Go quickly as a fire, return like smoke;
Stop nowhere, but outrun the brilliant flash
That lights the world before the thunder's crash.
Go now; if you so much as pause for breath
My anger will pursue you after death."
The servant scuttled off, consumed with dread,
And like a wind arrived at Ayaz' bed-
There sat his sovereign, by the patient's head!
Aghast, the servant trembled for his life
And pictured in his mind the blood-smeared knife.
"My king," he said, "I swear, I swear indeed,
That I have hurried here with utmost speed-
Although I see you here I cannot see
How in the world you have preceded me;
Believe my innocence, and if I lie
I am a heathen and deserve to die."
His sovereign answered him: "You could not know
The hidden ways by which we lovers go;
I cannot bear my life without his face,
And every minute I am in this place.
The passing world outside is unaware
of mysteries Ayaz and Mahmoud share;
In public I ask after him, although
Behind the veil of secrecy I know
Whatever news my messengers could give;
I hide my secret and in secret live."

ATTAR