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The Story Of Adam |
What a story I have to tell, to anyone who will listen,
Of how I travelled in foreign lands! |
I forgot the story of the First Covenant. In the garden of heaven,
When I drank the fiery cup of awareness I felt uneasy. |
I have always searched for the truth about the world,
Showing the celestial heights of my thought. |
Such was my fickle temperament
That in no place under the sky could I settle for good. |
At times 1 cleared the Ka'ba of stone idols,
But at times put statues in the same sanctuary; |
At times, to savour talk, 1 went to Mount Sinai
And hid the eternal light in the folds of my sleeve; |
By my own people I was hung on the cross;
I travelled to the skies, leaving earth behind. |
For years I hid in the Cave of Hira,
I served the world its last cup of wine; |
Arriving in India, I sang the Divine Song;
I took a fancy to the land of Greece; |
When India did not heed my call,
I went to live in China and Japan; |
I saw the world composed of atoms,
Contrary to what the men of faith taught. |
By stirring up the conflict between reason and faith,
I soaked in blood hundreds of lands. |
When I failed to probe the reality of the stars,
I spent nights on end wrapped in thought. |
The sword of the Church could not frighten me;
I taught the proposition of the revolving earth. |
I donned the lens of far‑seeing reason,
and told the world the secret of gravity. |
I captured rays and the restless lightning,
Making this earth the envy of paradise. |
But although my reason held the world captive to my ring,
Yet I remained ignorant of the secret of existence. |
When at last my eyes, worshippers of appearance, were opened,
I found it already lodged in the mansion of my heart! |
Translated by: Mustansir Mir |
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