“Whenever I rest at night, I meet You, holding a heart rippling with purity.”
“Whenever I rest at night, I meet You, holding a heart rippling with purity.”
The year has elapsed and it has been fast, as always. To review 2016, I saw fit to translate a poem by Sayyed Hussein Fadl-Allah in which he beautifully pictures the passing of time and I find myself playing it every now and then. It deserves a translation, and so please do read and enjoy!
I, my Lord, am treading my way towards sublimity,
And from You is the ultimate sublime
So guide me to the path.
My steps are perplexed,
Confusion and wretchedness is my life.
Whenever I rest at night,
I meet You, holding a heart rippling with purity.
Like the morning, the sun lights its eyelids,
And the sky flourishes on its sides
And if the day swayed me with the people,
And the whims longed for their fouls,
Indeed I am lost.
My steps run wild,
And the light may conceal plight.
Quick tongue; thinking amid the noise may conceal the nonsense
Strife with a thought,
I do not understand
How the discourse of guidance
became veiled with facades.
And I find myself carrying my sins over my back,
Propelling with weariness
And then the night returns,
And in the private conversations, the heart is free,
And on the lips is a call,
Shamefulness has muffled my conversations with You,
Can shamefulness be my intercessor to You?
I seek forgiveness,
Even if the space became filled with the stench of my sins.
And I?
Who am I, but one in need for mercy and pardon.
It is sufficient for my heart to pray
You are my Lord.
You have created my life, and my existence,
And your blessings have surpassed all thanks,
Yet my ungratefulness continued and I wasn’t thankful.
Is there to You an illuminated path?
So if you wanted to torture my body because of its ill temptations,
I will be content with praying.
Let my tongue pray to You my Lord,
And do with me whatever you please,
Because praying to You is a delight.
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