The Quest

“My heart like a mirror is silent and speaking in the hands of an amazing mirror holder,
for when moment by moment there shines in the mirror an amazing figure of beauty.” – Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi,
The Mathnawi As a show of love and fidelity,
to my beloved,
so sublime I sought to give the most beautiful gift,
that had ever been seen in our time I trekked the valleys of the earth,
and the mountains,
and the cliffs And all the while i kept saying,
“Sall Allahu `ala Muhammad” Praying that Allah would Unveil the gift to me So many things I saw in the earth,
which with beauty were endowed But when I drew close to pick them up,
I was spoken to from a cloud “Why to the presence of the sun,
do you take a candle frail?” “Why to the ocean deep and blue,
do you take a water pail?” And all the while I kept saying,
“Sall Allahu `ala Muhammad” Praying that Allah would Unveil the gift to me Despair would’ve got the better of me,
had I not turned to my lord He sent mevlana to my help,
and hope was then restored Mevlana came to me and said,
“Take this advice,
my son The gift you seek you’ll never find,
except with your beloved one” And all the while I kept saying,
“Sall Allahu `ala Muhammad” Praying that Allah would Unveil the gift to me He said “if she is,
to your own eye,
the most beautiful one around Greater in beauty than her own image,
such a thing shall never be found” “Take to her this mirror do,
and make your poem terse” “Make your gift a better gift,
with a couplet from my verse” And all the while I kept saying,
“Sall Allahu `ala Muhammad” Praying that Allah would Unveil the gift to me He cleaned my mirror of mud and grime,
and etched in with his hand The verse I quote before my own,
a verse with wisdom grand So praise Allah,
and peace and blessings do send on his chosen one Praise him again for a “nader” gift he unveiled to a lowly one And all the while I kept saying,
“Sall Allahu `ala Muhammad” Praying that Allah would Unveil the gift to me