Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 19. AL-FATTA'H, by EDWIN ARNOLD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 19. AL-FATTA'H, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Our lord muhammad lay upon the hill
Last Line: Thy name, and worship thee alway.
Subject(s): God; Islam


Al-Fattâ'h! praise the "Opener!" and recite
The marvels of that "Journey of the Night."

Our Lord Muhammad lay upon the hill
Safâ, whereby the holy city stands,
Asleep, wrapped in a robe of camels' wool.
Dark was the night—that Night of Grace—and still;
When all the seven spheres, by God's commands,
Opened unto him, splendid and wonderful!

For Gabriel, softly lighting, touched his side,
Saying, "Rise, thou enwrapped one! Come and see
The things which be beyond. Lo! I have brought
Borak, the horse of swiftness; mount and ride!"
Milk-white that steed was, with embroidery
Of pearls and emeralds in his long hair wrought.

Hoofed like a mule he was, with a man's face;
His eyes gleamed from his forelock, each a star
Of lucent hyacinth; the saddle-cloth
Was woven gold, which priceless work did grace:
The lightning goeth not so fast or far
As those broad pinions which he fluttered forth.

One heel he smote on Safâ, and one heel
On Sinai—where the dint is to this day.
Next at Jerusalem he neighed. Our Lord,
Descending with th' Archangel there, did kneel
Making the midnight prayer; afterwards they
Tethered him to the Temple by a cord.

"Ascend!" spake Gabriel; and behold! there fell
Out of the sky a ladder bright and great,
Whereby, with easy steps, on radiant stairs,
They mounted—past our earth and heaven and hell—
To the first sphere, where Adam kept the gate,
Which was of vaporous gold and silvery squares.

Here thronged the lesser Angels: some took charge
To fill the clouds with rain and speed them round,
And some to tend live creatures; for what's born
Hath guardians there in its own shape: a large
Beauteous white cock crowed matins, at the sound
Cocks in a thousand planets hailed the morn.

Unto the second sphere by that white slope
Ascended they, whereof Noah held the key;
And twofold was the throng of Angels here;
But all so dazzling glowed its fretted cope,
Burning with beams, Muhammad could not see
What manner of celestial folk were there.

The third sphere lay a thousand years beyond
If thou should'st journey as the sun-ray doth,
But in one Fâtihah clomb they thitherward.
David and Solomon in union fond
Ruled at the entrance, keeping Sabaoth
Of ceaseless joy. The void was paven hard

With paven work of rubies—if there be
Jewels on earth to liken unto them
Which had such color as no goldsmith knows—
And here a vast Archangel they did see,
"Faithful of God" his name, whose diadem
Was set with peopled stars; wherefrom arose

Lauds to the glory of God, filling the blue
With lovely music, as rose-gardens fill
A land with essences; and young stars, shaking
Tresses of lovely light, gathered and grew
Under his mighty plumes, departing still
Like ships with crews and treasure, voyage-making

So came they to the fourth sphere, where there sate
Enoch, who never tasted death; and there
Behind its portal awful Azrael writes;
The shadow of his brows compassionate
Made night cross all worlds; our Lord felt fear,
Marking the stern eyes and the hand which smites

For always on a scroll he sets the names
Of newborn beings, and from off the scroll
He blotteth who must die; and holy tears
Roll down his cheeks, recording all our shames
And sins and penalties; while of each soul
Monker and Nakir reckon the arrears.

Next, at the fifth sphere's entry, they were 'ware
Of a door built in sapphire, having graven
Letters of flashing fire, the faith unfolding,
"THERE IS NO GOD SAVE GOD." Aaron sate there
Guarding the "region of the wrath of Heaven;'
And Israfil behind, his trumpet holding.

His trumpet holding—which shall wake the dead
And slay the living—all his cheek puffed out,
Bursting to blow; for none knows Allah's time
Nor when the word of judgment shall be said:
And darts, and chains of flame, lay all around,
Terrible tortures for th' ungodly's crime.

When to the sixth sphere passed they, Moses sped
Its bars of chrysoprase, and kissed our Lord,
And spake full sweet, "Prophet of Allah! thou
More souls of Ismael's tribes to truth hast led,
Than I of Isaak's." Here the crystal sword
Of Michael gave the light they journeyed through

But at the seventh sphere that light which shone
Hath not an earthly name, nor any voice
Can tell its splendor, nay, nor any ear
Learn, if it listened; only he alone
Who saw it, knows how there th' elect rejoice,
Isa, and Ibrahim, and the souls most dear.

And he, the glorious regent of that sphere,
Had seventy thousand heads; and every head
As many countenances; and each face
As many mouths; and in each mouth there were
Tongues seventy thousand, whereof each tongue said.
Ever and ever, "Praise to Allah! praise!"

Here, at the bound, is fixed that lotus-tree
SEDRA, which none among the Angels pass;
And not great Gabriel's self might farther wend:
Yet, led by presences too bright to see,
Too high to name, on paths like purple glass
Our Lord Muhammad journeyed to the end.

Alone! Alone! through hosts of Cherubim
Crowding the infinite void with whispering vans,
From splendor unto splendor still he sped;
Across the "Lake of Gloom" they ferried him,
And then the "Sea of Glory:" mortal man's Heart can not hold the wonders
witness&3232;d.

So to the "Region of the Veils" he came,
Which shut all times off from eternity,
The bars of being where thought can not reach:
Ten thousand thousand are they, walls of flame
Lambent with loveliness and mystery,
Ramparts of utmost heaven, having no breach.

Then he saw GOD! our Prophet saw THE THRONE!—
Oh, Allah! let these weak words be forgiven!—
Thou, the Supreme, the "Opener," spake at last;
The Throne! the Throne! he saw; our Lord alone!
Saw it and heard!—but the verse falls from heaven
Like a poised eagle, whom the lightnings blast.

And Gabriel waiting by the tree he found;
And Borak tethered to the Temple porch;
He loosed the horse, and 'twixt its wings ascended.
One hoof it smote on Zion's hallowed ground,
One upon Sinai; and the day-star's torch
Was not yet fading when the journey ended.

Al-Fâttâ'h! "Opener!" we say
Thy name, and worship Thee alway.





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