The Singing Caravan: A Sufi Tale

"Yet ran my thoughts on her, though cedar rafters Were laid on me, or mottled silk and plush, Although the tinkling scales of varied laughters Rode me from Bandar Abbas to Barfr...

Each man is many as a caravan; His straggling selves collect in tales like these. Only the love of one can make him one. Who takes the Sufi Way--the Way of Peace?

"The King made reply. He was sadder than rain in the willows of Jordan. 'We are God's passing thoughts. They alone that await their fulfilment are wise. You shall be for a warni...

Athirst as the Hadramut, Our spirits correspond With God by all the gamut Of harmony, too fond Of Him for prayer that rifles His treasury for trifles. No load of blessing stifle...

_East, are you calling still, Who tried your strength of will For naught on brown Ulysses long ago? We have an island too, And haul away from you To cleaner kin that bend a stro...

"The myrtles of Damascus, The poppies of Shiraz, Have sent the breeze to ask us If they are dumb, because Wisdom and one that had her To wife still hug the fence, Where we have...

_You that have led us through the many tests Of Hungary, King Caloman, and Thrace, Who think of kingdoms as of palimpsests And human nature as a carapace, Go up and prosper in y...

"The aimless spindrift mingles with the scats Where suddenly the desert is the beach. A low wind whimpers up and down the flats Seeking some obstacle to lend it speech.