The True Sufi
What makes the Sufi? Purity of heart; Not the patched mantle and the lust perverse Of those vile earth-bound men who steal his name. He in all dregs discerns the essence pure: In hardship ease, in tribulation joy. The phantom sentries, who with batons drawn Guard Beauty’s place-gate and curtained bower, Give way before him, unafraid he passes, And showing the King’s arrow, enters in.
‘Persian Poems’, an Anthology of verse translations edited by A.J.Arberry, Everyman’s Library, 1972
Feel free to be first to leave comment.