IX

THE KASÎDAH IX — • — Wend now thy way with brow serene, fear not thy humble tale to tell:— The whispers of the Desert-wind; the tinkling of the camel’s bell. שׁלם

THE KASÎDAH IX — • — The shatter’d bowl shall know repair; the riven lute shall sound once more; But who shall mend the clay of man, the stolen breath to man restore? The shiver’d clock again shall strike; the broken reed shall pipe again: But we, we die, and Death is one, the doom … Read more

THE KASÎDAH IX — • — Perchance the law some Giver hath: Let be! let be! what canst thou know? A myriad races came and went; this Sphinx hath seen them come and go. Haply the Law that rules the world allows to man the widest range; And haply Fate’s a Theist-word, subject to human … Read more

THE KASÎDAH IX — • — Survey thy kind as One whose wants in the great Human Whole unite*; The Homo rising high from earth to seek the Heav’ens of Life-in-Light; And hold Humanity one man, whose universal agony Still strains and strives to gain the goal, where agonies shall cease to be. Believe in … Read more

THE KASÎDAH IX — • — On Thought itself feed not thy thought; nor turn from Sun and Light to gaze, At darkling cloisters paved with tombs, where rot the bones of bygone days: “Eat not thy heart,” the Sages said; “nor mourn the Past, the buried Past;” Do what thou dost, be strong, be … Read more

THE KASÎDAH IX — • — From self-approval seek applause: What ken not men thou kennest, thou! Spurn ev’ry idol others raise: Before thine own Ideal bow: Be thine own Deus: Make self free, liberal as the circling air: Thy Thought to thee an Empire be; break every prison’ing lock and bar: Do thou the … Read more

THE KASÎDAH IX — • — That blunts thy sense, and dulls thy taste; that deafs thine ears, and blinds thine eyes; Creates the thing that never was, the Thing that ever is defies. The finite Atom infinite that forms thy circle’s centre-dot, So full-sufficient for itself, for other selves existing not, Finds the world … Read more

THE KASÎDAH IX — • — Finds mirth and joy in Jamshid-bowl; toys with the Daughter of the vine; And bids the beauteous cup-boy say, “Master I bring thee ruby wine!”* Sips from the maiden’s lips the dew; brushes the bloom from virgin brow:— Such is his fleshly bliss that strives the Maker through the … Read more

THE KASÎDAH IX — • — Who treads the first must look adown, must deem his life an all in all; Must see no heights where man may rise, must sight no depths where man may fall. Allah in Adam form must view; adore the Maker in the made. Content to bask in Mâyâ’s smile,* … Read more

THE KASÎDAH IX — • — HOW then shall man so order life that when his tale of years is told, Like sated guest he wend his way; how shall his even tenour hold? Despite the Writ that stores the skull; despite the Table and the Pen*; Maugre the Fate that plays us down, her … Read more