“Thanks be to God, the very world that birthed us

now is bathed by wondrous Nature

in a rapture of her glorious light:

the splendor of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, now revealed.

And humankind, highest of creatures,

endowed with Intellect’s might

so that all the beasts,

winged and hoof’d,

are placed under his command

And Adam’s veins are filled

with Art, Science, Faith:

he knows the sciences are clear

-but music is the weightiest

as a surging ocean

outweighs the very world through with it flows.

 

If he whose heart’s been moved

by the science of Music’s whole effect

were offered the pleasure of emperorship,

he’d certainly ignore it

-for Man is not alone in his delight

at that sweet sound

since even animals have sacrificed themselves for it.

 

More stubborn than a donkey,

he who holds that Music’s “impure”;

Ignorant of beauty

how claim acquaintance with the Lord?

Creator!

the Ocean Surges!

Permit my skiff to reach the shore

-King!

I beg what kindness

-Inayat-

thou canst afford.

 

—Translated from the Urdu by Pir Zia Inayat Khan and Lamborn Wilson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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