Works of Hadj Nemat
Excerpts (from The Book of the Kings of Truth)
Infidelity of the World
I have reason to complain of this world that turns
Of the noise and the clamor that rises as it churns
Of its countermovements that deceive
And the shifting fluctuations we perceive
What can I say about this world, so crooked and bent
At times it appears lovely, at times beyond contempt
Fortune and glory it bestows on some
And lifts them higher than the lofty sun
To others it feeds toil and blood
A makeshift bed of soil and mud
To some it gives joy, a cause for celebration
Others it condemns to grief and lamentation
I know not the riddle of this ancient vale
That makes both men and women wail
A world in upheaval, a world that destroys
Nothing remains amid this ominous void
The heart of time and space it rends
So the pain within them never ends
Rust and dust cover this world of old
Its gloomy months and years, its days so cold
O how many luminous prophets and seers
How many saints with illustrious careers
How many kings glorious and heroic
How many sages, wise and stoic
How many mystics absorbed by God's presence
How many lovers in search of His essence
How many men and women throughout the ages
Advanced in their years or at their younger stages
Have come into this world to be put to the test
All of them perished and were laid to rest
None of them could find any comfort here
What they found instead was turmoil and fear
All who come here suffer some measure of pain
For none can escape the trap of this ephemeral plane
An instant of happiness is chased by a hundred ills
A year's worth of sorrow follows a moment's thrills
In this world in which no desire can be realized
In this world in which no problem can be neutralized
He who rode horseback did so for a day
And thereafter walked the rest of the way
No one here has seen the least stability
This world grants nothing but infidelity
Now it's the spring, now it's the fall
So it's always been, for one and all
Though the world constantly changes its hue
Shades of pain is all that it yields for you
Many have journeyed down this trodden lane
They lie beneath the earth, having lived in vain
And you, my heart, do not allow this world to catch you unaware
For it knows full well how to entrap you in its snare […]
In the end, all that remains is a person's name
The memory of his beneficence or his ill fame
The benevolence of the good remain with them eternally
The malevolence of the bad will accompany them perpetually
O heart, devote yourself to beneficence with all your might
For it will deliver you here and in your eternal plight
Such goodness will endure in the people's memory
And in the other world bring you joy and prosperity
Translation from Persian into French by Leili Anvar-Chenderoff; translation from French into English by Martin Hoffman.
Union with God (v. 806-816)
Whoever should seek union with the Divine
His precepts must obey and with them align
An intimate of the Beloved he becomes evermore
His liberation from both worlds he holds in store
To the paradise of Truth should he seek to aspire
The light of Truth that paradise will transpire
His heart will then radiate that luminescence
And enlighten him with the manifestation of the vital Essence
Eternal life will he glean from this Divine light
And rejoin His Beloved in every age and plight
He who aspires to a false paradise, however
His celestialness aside, shall perish forever
For two kinds of paradise does this world provide
Eternal Eden on one side, ephemeral Eden on the other side
Eternal Eden belongs to veritable men
Those who are truly just and benevolent
Ephemeral Eden is the lot of base, ignoble men
Upon whom divine wrath will surely descend
Whoever seeks the ephemeral in this world we see
Shall be deprived in the other world of divine eternity
Translation from Persian into French by Leili Anvar-Chenderoff; translation from French into English by Martin Hoffman.