Standing in an Open Field

Because it is National Poetry Month, and because I do not have a new poem to offer at the moment, here is something from the archives.

Eight hundred years ago, A Sufi monk wrote a book of poems that he called Walled Gardens.  He wrote from his faith’s perspective, in his language and to the people of his Persian culture, and yet, as poetry makes possible, he speaks to me.

By Sanai’s inspiration, I offer my own poem, reflecting some of the monk’s existentialism but adding a bit of my own perspective.  Poetry also allows this, and I make no apologies for rewriting someone else’s poem and applying it to my own language and faith and life.

I do not pretend to understand Sufiism, nor will I let it threaten my Christian beliefs or Western biases.  To the contrary, just as I hear some of Ecclesiastes, or maybe Hemingway, in Sanai’s poetry (“The sun also rises!”), I appreciate that it is the same sun that rises on us all.

Standing in an Open Field

The sun of truth rises unbidden,

and with it sets the moon of learning.

In this halt of just a week,

to be is not to be, and to come is to go. 

- Sanai, tr. David Pendlebury

   

  For all that I know,

  that which I’ve learned,

I am a moon that mirrors

  a distant fire:

I watch the sun rise,

  and my reflected brilliance

   fades with the light of day.

   

For all that I know,

  that which I’ve found,

I am a rooster that crows

  in the early dawn:

I watch the sun rise,

  and my hallelujahs

   fade with the light of day.

For all that I know,

  that which I suppose,

I am a wildflower in

  a garden of shadows:

I watch the sun rise,

  but my morning glory

   fades with the light of day.

As long as I am living

  the sun will shine,

and the sun will shine

  when I am gone,

and the moon will rise

  and the rooster will crow

and the shadows will stir

  and the gardens will grow.

For all that I know,

  that which I believe,

life is a blessing

  beyond understanding:

I will watch the sun rise

  for as long as I can

   until I fade with the light of day.

As long as I am living

  the sun will shine,

and the moon will rise

  and the rooster will crow

and the sun will shine

  when I am gone,

and the shadows will stir

  and the gardens will grow.

As long as I am living

  and when I’m gone,

the shadows will stir

  in this garden of mine

and the sun will shine

  and the rooster will crow.

  Hallelujah for all I know!