Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE VISIT OF MAHMOUD BEN SULEIM TO PARADISE, by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Beneath the shadow of a breezeless palm Last Line: "in the deep calm which lies at allah's feet!'" Subject(s): Legends | ||||||||
BENEATH the shadow of a breezeless palm Mahmoud Ben Suleim, in the evening calm, Sat, with his gravely meditative eyes Turned on the waning wonder of the skies; What time beside him paused a brother sage, Whose flowing locks, like his, were white with age: His gaze a half-veiled fire, seemed sadly cast Inward, to scan the records of his past -- Perchance the past of man -- and thence to draw From far experience, sanctified by awe Of God's mysterious ways, some hint to tell Who of the dead in heaven and who in hell Dwelt now in endless bliss or endless bale. Thus, while he mused, the old man's face grew pale With stringent memories; on his laboring thought Vague speculations, dim and doubtful, wrought From out the fragments of the vanished years. At length he said: "Ben Suleim, lend thine ears To that I fain would ask thee. Thou art wise In sacred lore, in pure philosophies; So tell me now thine inmost thought of heaven And heaven's fair habitants." "Whoe'er hath striven," Ben Suleim answered, "to the extremest verge Of spiritual power, across death's dreary surge Hath passed to find the fathomless peace of God!" "Yea," quoth the other, smiting on the sod His staff impatiently. "I know! I know! But who of all we have seen or loved below Think'st thou in Aidenn?" Slowly from his lips, Wrapped by the smoke-wreaths in a half-eclipse, Ben Suleim's pipe was lowered: "My friend," said he, "Hark to this vision of eternity, Which in the long-gone time of youth did seem To rise before me in a twilight dream. Methought the life on earth had passed away, That near me spread the new, immortal day Of Paradise; but yet mine eyes looked back On this our clouded world, and marked the track My waning life-course still left glimmering there. Behold! all dues of funeral dole and prayer Mine heirs had paid me; through the cypress gloom I saw the glitter of my new-made tomb, Whereon so many a blazoned virtue shone, A blush seemed gathering o'er the hardened stone, And I, albeit a spirit, flushed with shame. Nathless, just then to Eden gates I came, And, at the outmost wicket thundering loud, Summoned full soon an angel from the cloud Which girds those heavenly portals, blent with mist Of shifting rainbow arcs of amethyst, Who, somewhat harshly for an angel, said I knocked as if an hundred thousand dead, Not one poor soul, besieged the heavenly door. He raised his luminous hands, which hovered o'er For a brief moment, like a flash of stars, The sapphire brilliance of the circling bars, Then one by one unclosed them. Entered in The realm celestial, safe from pain and sin, I stretched at ease, with shadows cool and dim Floating about me, thus did question him: 'Fair Seraph, speak. Is not this land divine, Rife with pure souls, once faithful friends of mine?' 'Nay! be content if wandering here and there, Thou meet'st a few -- none in the loftiest sphere.' 'Where, then,' I cried, 'is holy Ibn Becar? If not the highest he, surely not far Beneath the highest that clear spirit beams?' 'Ah! thou art muffled still in earthly dreams,' The angel answered. 'If on him thou'dst call, Pass downward, for he's not in Heaven at all!' 'Dread Allah! can it be? So just a man Walked not, methought, the streets of Ispahan. Morn after morn, year after year his feet, Alike in summer's bloom and winter's sleet, Bore him to worship in the sacred place; What righteous zeal burned hotly in his face! And when inspired his heavenly vows he made, Or'neath the innermost mosque devoutly prayed, Why, even the roaring Dervish, robed and cowled, Shrank from those pious lungs, which almost howled Creation deaf. A saint we deemed him -- one Pure as the snow, yet ardent as the sun, Who, not content with turning toward the light His own blest feet, must set on paths of right All erring brethren!' 'True,' the angel cried; 'But Ibn Becar, down to the day he died, Kept on his neighbor's ways so keen an eye He lost at length his own straight course thereby; And though the purblind world hath guessed it not, He bides in Eblis' kingdom; fierce and hot The waves of Hades roll above him now.' Amazed, I bowed my head, just whispering low An 'Allah Kebur.' Next: 'How fares it, then,' I asked, 'with Hafiz, the wise scribe, whose pen Signed many a deed of gift, and scored his name High on the roll of charitable hearts?' Clear came the answer: ''Mid thy public marts No soul more sordid strove with heaven to drive Its wicked bargains. Largely would he give To general charities; but, sooth to say, Whene'er he 'scaped the broad, bright gaze of day, He stamped with cruel heel the writhing poor, Would turn the perishing beggar from his door, And wring from friendless widows the last crust Saved for their half-starved children. God is just; So Hafiz dwells not here.' In faltering tone, As dropped from one who deals with things unknown, I questioned next: 'Abdallah, he is saved?' 'Nay; for, albeit with seeming truth he braved Temptation, and each wise and sacred saw Wrought from the precepts of our prophet's law, Fell soft as Hybla's honey from his mouth, Yet his whole nature withered in the drouth Of drear hypocrisy. By stealth he bought Strong waters of the Giaour, and nightly sought Oblivion from sweet opiates of the South. Sickness he feigned, to gain in these his cure; And once, that he might tipple more and more. Moved to a province rife with serpents dread, Because, by such as knew his wiles, 'twas said He drank the poison of each treacherous throat, To seek in fiery wine an antidote. Nathless, a serpent slew him, and his home Is far from ours.' My thoughts began to roam Vaguely, in loose disorder. Yet again: 'What of Kalkarri, he whose songs of pain And joy alike forever struck the key, The under-note of golden purity, Virtue his theme and heavenly love his muse?' 'Thou fool and blind! Kalkarri could not choose But sing mellifluous verses; yet in him The light of truth was always blurred and dim. A tireless trick of tinkling rhymes he had, And naught he cared what spirit, good or bad, O'erruled his lay. The good, perchance, paid best; Therefore he sang of heavenly joy and rest, But sang of that whereof he shall not taste.' 'Just Allah!' sighed I, 'see what barren waste Drinks up my hopes. Since none of all I named Here for the sacred roll hath Allah claimed, I pray thee tell me whom his will hath blessed.' 'Dost thou remember Saadi?' 'What, that wretch Who shod the Bactrian camels -- who would fetch Strange oaths from far to sow our wholesome air With moral poison?' 'True, the man did swear,' Confessed the Bright One, sadly. 'Yet so strong His penitent sorrow o'er the hateful wrong Done his own soul and Allah, and so rife With tireless effort his whole earnest life To smite the giant tempters in his soul, To kill them outright, or with firm control Hold them in native darkness chained and cowed -- At last he conquered and our Lord allowed His weary soul to quaff the founts of balm!' Amazement held me dumb. Within the palm Waving above, just then a whispering breeze Rose, and passed up the long-ranked, radiant trees Which lined the hills of heaven. It seemed a sigh Born of soft Mercy's immortality Wafted toward the throne! The Bright One then, Lifting his voice harmonious, spake again: 'Ferdusi, the small merchant by the quays Too poor to give, but with a heart as broad As the broad sky, reverent of faith and God; Islal-ed-Din, who, though he could not make The commonest prayer, would yet exclaim Amen! To those who did, so warmly, for the sake Of truth and fervent worship, all might see His generous spirit's large sincerity -- Both these are with us,' 'But Wassaf,' said I, The blameless teacher, who methinks came nigh Virtue as pure as frail humanity On earth may compass?' 'Yea; his soul is here, But his soul wanders in the humblest sphere. For, mark thee, though no damning sin did stain This Wassaf's record, still in blood and brain So weak was he, his pale life-currents flowed So like dull streamlets through a wan abode Of windless deserts, that he lived and died Ne'er by a sharp temptation terrified; And if his course the Prophet's law fulfilled And near his path all passionate gusts were stilled, What credit to him? His to coldly live, Act, fade -- a creature tamely negative. But lo! in flaming contrast the hot stir Of Agha's fate -- Agha, the flute player, Glutton on earth, wine-bibber, and the rest, He still is held in heaven a nobler guest Than all your Wassafs -- proper, crimeless, cool, And soulless, almost, as a stagnant pool, For Agha's blood a furious torrent ran; Half brutal he, half tiger and half man, In health and power, the body's lustful force, Whose strength to fetter in its turbulent course Had taxed an angel's will. His nature sore Tormented him; yet o'er and o'er and o'er From some vast fall he lifted prayerful eyes, And like a Titan strove to storm the skies, Which, through unequalled strife and travails passed, His hero-soul hath grandly won at last! No more! no more! the glorious presence said. 'In light to come thy knowledge perfected Shall bloom in flower and fruit; but, Suleim, say, Hast thou beheld the swift sky-rocket's ray Burn up the heavens? How beautiful at first Its splendors gleamed, too soon, alas! to burst And die in outer darkness! Thus it is With many a soul, soaring, men dream, to bliss. Awhile they mount, clear, dazzling, drunk with light, To sink in ruin and the desolate night. Would'st know the true believer? He is one Whose faith in deeds shines perfect as the sun. His soul, a shaft feathered by works of grace, Death, the grim archer, launches forth in space; It cleaves the clouds, o'ershoots the vaporous wall That waves 'twixt earth and heaven its mystic pall, To light, at last, unerring, strong and fleet, In the deep calm which lies at Allah's feet!'" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE GHOST OF DEACON BROWN by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON ICE SHALL COVER NINEVEH by KENNETH REXROTH MONUMENT MOUNTAIN by WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT THE STRANGER; AFTER A GUARANI LEGEND RECORDED BY ERNESTO MORALES by WILLIAM STANLEY MERWIN THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE THE GUERDON by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE LEGEND OF ARA-COELI by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH A STORM IN THE DISTANCE (AMONG THE GEORGIAN HILLS) by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE |
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