Fakhruddin Iraqi - Saki's face

 

In the world-displaying cup, at first
the image of all creation was reflected.
The cup filled with Love's wine
and the myriad imprints of all things took shape.
Each atom of these prints and images
showed forth a detail of the universe:
one draught and 100,000 cups,
one drop and 100,000 taverns.
Pass by these enslaving images
and all your troubles will vanish.
Put aside these printed shapes
and come to understand
that all this painted display is naught
but the false double seen by a cross-eyed fool.
When in the midst of this astigmatic vision
you see the face of the Painter Himself
you will understand that He alone exists
and all the others are but fancies and reflections.
Do you desire that your heart and eyes
be cooled by the light of this realisation?
Then change your morals, transmute your qualities,
and when they have been transformed
rush to the wineshop, for only there
may your goal be reached at last.
Behold, the half-drunk eyes of the saki
and then, as elegantly as you can
drain a cup, lose your senses, forget
all that can be unified or dispersed
and take a glance at the saki's eyes,
his drunken eyes: this, this is the supreme.
Look: the saki's face
how it swells the soul
the saki's eternal face in the
world-displaying cup
Love, Love is both wine and cup, Love
is a wine that puts all rivals under the table.
That first world-displaying cup is but
a reflection of the purity of Love's glass
and the half-drunk glance of the saki also drinks
from this wine, whose ultimate end is desire.
This cup was drained, and from its outpouring
the water of life drenched the world;
from that water a bubble arose
and was called 'the 18,000 worlds'...
You who have no news of this intoxicating vintage
(never for a second having stepped outside yourself)
how long have you boiled the pot of love-madness
there in your monastery – and still the stew is raw!
Now come to the tavern, for a few days
sit from morning to night;
drink a toast to the desires of the friend of wine
till you're drunk enough to see through his eyes.

Look: the saki's face
how it swells the soul
the saki's eternal face in the
world-displaying cup

Before the being and the non-being of the universe
before the 'B' of God's decree – 'Be!'
the Self-manifestation of Love asked from Love
the manifestation of the letters of the Greatest Name.
Love licked its finger instead of a pen,
licked it, then wrote without hesitation
upon its palm a Name – such a Name!
that Adam himself is its talisman-seal.
In the very shape of its letters, Being
and Temporality alike were contained.
Love wrote, then read, then closed its hand
and hid the word from the eyes of all strangers.
O seeker of this Greatest Name,
do you wish to know it now for certain?
Then find the key which unlocks the world
which opens the seal of the talisman
and when at last you've unlocked the lid
you'll find that you yourself are that Name,
that all is related to you
both manifest meaning and secret Word –
the Name which is the essence of the Named.
If this is what you find, then carry on
if not, well, don't take yourself too seriously.
Go knock knock knock on the tavern door
and when at last they suddenly
swing wide the door, open your eyes, rejoice.

Look: the saki's face
how it swells the soul
the saki's eternal face in the
world-displaying cup

Love showed His Face from behind the veil;
when I looked, it was my own face.
I prostrated myself before my own face
in that moment, when He showed His Beauty...