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Khusrau, Amir - Ghazal 1424
Identifier
020894
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
The Selected Poetry of Amir Khusrau - ln the Bazaar of Love
Ghazal 1424: bi-raft 'umr u bi-su-yi khuday ruy nakardam
My life is over, and I did not turn to the Lord.
I did not seek out those moments
of rapture, and now the chance has slipped.
How can my heart wash away its filthy corruption?
Unlike my tears, my ablutions failed to flood me with regret.
My tears did not wash away my black disgrace,
My face did not shine bright in the ranks of true men.
What do I know of the path
of these lion-hearted, nocturnal wanderers
when I haven't spent a night or two
even roaming the alleys with dogs?
Never a ball nestled in the crook
of love's polo stick, my head
could not be struck by
the ecstasy of my Sultan's presence.
My rheumy nose could not make out the smell of musk,
too congested to catch the perfume of creation.
They advise me to give up my bad habits, but how can
I now when I did not make a habit of it from the first?
I threw away my whole life on lies:
I never bowed down sincerely before the Lord.
Poetry became my plague.
Alas that Khusrau never said, 'Silence,'
and I did not stop talking.