IMAGES 

SEEING THE IMAGES, 

MEDITATING ON THE IMAGES - 

THE GRASP OF MEDITATION 

August 14, 2014

MEDITATION

Collect your mind’s fragments

that you may fill yourself

bit by bit with Meaning:

the slave who meditates

the mysteries of Creation

for sixty minutes

gains more merit

than from sixty years

of fasting and prayer.

Meditation:

high-soaring hawk

of Intellect's wrist

resting at last

on the flowering branch

of the Heart:

this world and the next

are hidden beneath

its folded wing.

Now perched before

the mud hut

which is Earth

now clasping with its talons

a branch of the Tree

of Paradise

soaring here

striking there—cacti moment

fresh prey

gobbling a mouthful of moonlight

wheeling away

beyond the sun

darting between the Great Wheel's

star-set spokes, it rips to shreds

the Footstool and Throne

a pigeon's feather

in its beak

or a comet

till finally free of everything

it alights, silent

on a topmost bough.

Hunting is king's sport,

not just anyone's

pastime

but you?

you’ve hooded the falcon

-        What can I say? –

Clipped its pinions

broken its wings …

alas.

© Sana’i (Persian Sufi poet)