THE CONQUEST OF NATURE[1]

Hadi Husain

(l) The Birth of Man

Love shouted a paean, "Ah!

One with a bleeding heart draws nigh."

Beauty shuddered and said, "Look!

Here comes one with a seeing eye."

Nature was surprised to see

From its heap of passive dust appear,

All of a sudden, one who was

Of himself maker, breaker and seer.

Whispers travelled all the way

From the Heaven to Night's primeval abode.

"Veiled ones, beware, O,

There's one who tears up every shroud."

Ignorant of its very self,

And curled up still in Being's lap,

Desire opened its eyes wide

And found a whole new world unwrap.

Life said, "0 happy day!

I writhed in dust aeon after aeon.

Now opens at long last

A door out of this ancient prison."

(2) Satan's Denial

I'm not an ignorant creature of light

That I should bow to man.

He is a base-born image of dust

And I am of fire born.

The blood in the veins of the world is

Akindle with my flame.

The tearing speed of the wind is mine

And mine is thunder's boom.

I forge the atoms' harmony and

The elements' concourse.

I burn, but also shape: I am

The fire that makes the glass.

Whatever I make I break to bits

And scatter in the dust,

In order to create new forms

From fragments of those lost.

This restlessly revolving sky

Is but a wavelet of my sea;

And in my throbbing substance dwells

The shape of things to be.

The stars' bodies were made by you;

But I'm their motive force.

I'm the spirit behind all forms:

I'm life's orginal source.

Imbuing body with soul is yours;

Mine is rousing the soul.

Yoy waylay with blissful peace;

Jlead with action's call.

I never begged obeisance of

slaves who always pray.

I rule without a hell: I judge

Without a judgment day.

That lowly creature of earth, man,

Of mean intelligence,

Though born in your lap, will grow old

Under my vigilance.

(3) The Temptation of Adam

A life of struggle, strain and stress

Is better than eternal rest.

When a dove is straining at its net,

An eagle's heart beats in its breast.

You're capable of nothing but

Prostrating yourself like a slave.

Like a tall cypress stand erect,

O you, who do not act but crave.

These streams of milk and honey have

Deprived you of the strength to act.

Come, take a heartly draught of wine

From the goblet of the vine direct.

Good and evil, virtue and sin,

Are myth created by your Lord.

Come, taste the pleasure of action and

Go forth to seek your due reward.

Arise, for I will show to you

The prospect of a whole new world.

Open your eyes and look around;

Go forth and see it all unfurled.

You are a tiny, worthless drop;

Become a shining, priceless pearl.

Descend from Heaven's halcyon heights

And plunge into the life-stream's whirl.

You are a brightly shining sword;

Go, dip into creation's heart.

To prove your mettle issue forth

And from your scabbord's bosom part.

Unfold your eagle-wings and soar

And shed the blood of timid quails.

For an eagle it is very death

To live within its eyrie's walls.

You have not learnt this lesson yet;

Fulfilment is desire's death.

You know what is eternal life:

To burn anew with each new breath.

(4) Adam Sings on His Exit from Paradise

O what a joy it is to make

One's life a constant, passionate glow!

 And with one's breath make desert and hill

And plain like molten metal flow!

To open a door out of one's cage

Onto the garden's vast expanse!

Roam in the space of the sky,

And tell the stars one's weal and woe!

With secret yearnings and open prayers

Cast looks on Beauty's seraglio!

At times to see a single flower

In the riot of a tulip-field!

At other times tell hurtful thorns

From roses that in their midst blow!

I burn with a slow-consuming fire;

I am all an agonizing desire.

I give up faith for a living doubt;

I seek, I question, I aspire.

NOTES