Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 12. THE CREATOR, by EDWIN ARNOLD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 12. THE CREATOR, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: By the glorious book we have sent! Do they wonder a warner has come
Last Line: Finish thy work and make us thine!
Subject(s): God; Islam


Praise the "Creator!" He who made us live,
Life everlasting unto us can give.

By the glorious Book We have sent! do they wonder a warner is come
Out from among themselves? Do the misbelievers say
"This is a marvelous thing! What! when we are dead and dust,
To live! to arise! See now, this hope is a hope far away!"

But what the grave shall consume, and what of the man it shall leave,
We know, for a roll is with Us where each soul's order is set.
Will they call the truth a lie when it cometh to them, and dwell
Wrangling and foolish and fearful, confounding the matter? But yet

The heaven is above them to see how fair We have builded its arch,
Painted it golden and blue, finished it perfect and clear;
And the earth how We spread it forth, and planted the mountains thereon;
And made all the manifold trees and the beautiful blossoms appear.

Memorials are these to the wise, and a message to him who repents;
Moreover We drop from the clouds the blessing of water, the rain,
Whereby the cool gardens do grow, and the palms soaring up to the sky
With their date-laden branches and boughs, one over the other; and grain
To nourish the children of men. Lo! thus We have quickened dead clay
On the bosom of earth, and beneath her: so, too, shall a quickening be.

What! deem they it wearied God to create?—that His power was spent?
They are fools, and they darken their eyes to that which He willeth them see.
We have fashioned man, and we know the thoughts of his innermost heart;
We are closer to him than his blood, more near than the vein of his throat;
At the right of ye all sits a watcher, a watcher sits at your left;
And whatso each speaketh or thinketh, those two have known it and note.

Al-Khâlik! Fashioner Divine!
Finish Thy work and make us Thine!





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