![[Previous Page]](../../images/prev.gif)
page 79
![[Next Page]](../../images/next.gif)
nor any sound; nothing is known of them nor any hint. Will
the people dispute it while they behold it? Will they deny it
when they know it? I know not in what valley they wander
erringly: do they not see that they depart and return not? How
long will they be famous in the low countries and in the high,
descend and ascend? `Is not the time yet come to those who
believe for their hearts to become humble for the remembrance
of God?' (45) Well is it with that one who hath said or
shall say, `Yea, O Lord, the time is ripe and hath come,' and
who severeth himself from all that is. Alas! naught is reaped
but what is sown, and naught is taken but what is laid up, save
by the grace of God and His favor. Hath the earth conceived
Him whom the veils of glory prevent not from ascending into
the Kingdom of His Lord, the Mighty, the Supreme? Have
We any good works whereby defects shall be removed or
which shall bring Us near unto the Lord of causes? We ask
God to deal with Us according to His grace, not His justice,
and to make Us of those who turn toward Him and sever
themselves from all beside Him.
"O King, I have seen in the way of God what no eye hath
seen and no ear hath heard. Friends have disclaimed Me; ways
are straitened unto Me; the pool of safety is dried up; the plain
of ease is [scorched] yellow. How many calamities have descended,
and how many will descend! I walk advancing toward
the Mighty, the Bounteous, while behind Me glides the
serpent. My eyes rain down tears until My bed is drenched; but
My sorrow is not for Myself. By God, My head longeth for the
spears for the love of its Lord, and I never pass by a tree but My
heart addresseth it [saying], `O would that thou wert cut down
in My name and My body were crucified upon thee in the way
of My Lord'; yea, because I see mankind going astray in their
intoxication, and they know it not: they have exalted their
lusts, and put aside their God, as though they took the command