A Soul’s Journey Through the Time-Worlds
Thrown down from my origin, I have been nursed in this miserable world by a presence embodied in the motions of the sky.
She the same who cared for Adam, and led his children up through the scale of consciousness according to their capacities.
She is the whole within which all things grow, and the natural propagative power.
She calls to the cypress, and it rises up straight. To man, and her living fluid moves to make him erect.
So I was formed and wandered in the desert, and through the mountains haunted by wild animals around me and inside me.
Then a clarity woke in me, and I saw my soul’s face, and felt drawn upward, but I pulled down still too, by the other, contended for, bewildered, and without guidance, as I ran, as from a burning house, onto a narrow, upward-spiraling, path.
Dangerous cliffs, the summit far off. My only hope was to die.
Then, through that dim murkiness, I saw an old man with a radiant face.
“You are the moon!” I called out. “Where did you come from?”
“I am beyond substance and space. I am creation’s cause, here to lead you back to your home. Hold close, and let my fire consume you. Don’t be afraid of losing your strength here. This fire is one which has a spring of eternal water inside it. As your animal-soul dies, your new soul will be born. Live humbly with me, and I will raise you into majesty.”
He talked more to me in silence, without using syllables. He gave me love and light and eyes to see, and together we set out.
A Soul’s Journey Through the Time-Worlds, Sanai
Thanks for this, Charlotte.
I’ve always loved Sufi poetry but hadn’t read anything by Sanai until last night – I opened a book I’ve had for years at random and it was onto this piece….I was amazed by it, this is only half the piece, perhaps I should post the rest