They more endure than transient reigns of kings' short

rolls.

They are the never-failing feeders of men's souls.

If thou the pleasures of the world short time forego, Eternal bliss may compensate th' imbroglio. Know that this nether world but for a period lasts. T'abandon it, eternal rest to man forecasts. Give ear. Forsake all mundane ease, all earthly rest; Then will thy soul enjoy heaven's cup with double zest. Cast thou the carcase vile of earthly pomp to dogs. 495 The cup of mere surmise reject; the soul it clogs.

VI.

The Greater (Spiritual) Warfare.

GREAT Princes all! We've killed our dread external foe.
Within us, still, a worse than he remains, I trow.

To slay this inner foe is not the task of mind;
Our moral lion's not destroyed by tricks refined.

Our flesh, a hell; that hell a fiery dragon is.

Whole oceans can't extinguish those fierce flames of his.
Earth's seven oceans all were lost within his maw;
His raging fires would still burn high, to mankind's awe.
Pitcoal, hard-hearted miscreants; these are its food;1
They sink within it, miserable, abject brood.
Withal, its craving hunger ne'er will be appeased,
Until the voice of God cry unto it: "Art eased?"
Eased?" will it answer; "No; not yet awhile by far;
Behold my flame, my fury,-burning, fiery roar."

It swallows down a universe in its fell mood;

And instantly shrieks out: "More food! More food!
More food!"

God, from nubiquity,2 His foot will stamp on hell.
Then will it cease to burn: "He willed, and it befell!" 3

Our fleshly lusts in us are but a part of hell;

Parts have the qualities of their universal.

1 Qur'an ii. 22, and lxvi. 6, say quity "is the converse of "nubiquity.” "mankind and rocks."

2 Another word coined to meet the requirements of the original. "Ubi

Nulliquity might be used.

3 Qur'an ii. 111, and seven other places.

5

ΙΟ

The foot of God alone can stamp out hell's alarms.
Who else but God supreme to bend such bow has arms?
Straight arrows serve alone to be shot from a bow;
But lust's distorted spring shoots crooked arrows too.
Be thou in mind upright as arrow straight for bow.
A bow will not shoot straight, unless the arrow's so.

We've fought our fight and conquered in our outward strife.
Now turn we our attention to the inner life.

We've done with outer warfare, lesser as it is;

15 And as the Prophet, wage the greater warfare, his.
We put our trust in God; from Him we ask for aid;
With His assistance faith can move a mountain staid.
To rout an armed foe is nothing very fresh ;
A lion true is he who conquers his own flesh.
To illustrate this truth, give ear unto a tale,
That thou of these few words the moral mayest inhale.
From Cæsar1 an ambassador to 'Umer came,2
Through deserts far-extending, from Madīna's fame.3
He asked! "Where is the palace of the Caliph, men ;*
20 That I to it may lead my cavalcade, my train?"
The people answered: "Thou'lt no Caliph's palace find,
Our Caliph's sole pavilion's his enlightened mind.
Through his Commandership' his fame to Rome has

But like our other poor, a hut's his ample home.

How shouldst thou see that palace, brother, stranger, guest, When in thy mind's eye thou a beam hast, unconfessed? Cast out that beam; make clear thy eye from every mote; Then mayst thou entertain the hope to see his cote."

1 "Cæsar "is the Roman Emperor, the Qaysari - Rūm. Other Qaysar there is not.

4 The Arabian title is Khalifa; of which Caliph is a corruption. 5 "Commander of the Believers" is

2 To write this name Omar is his usual title. "Rome" is the

incorrect.

3 Medina is the usual incorrect

spelling of this name.

Lower Empire.

Whoever shall his heart cleanse from all passions' bale,
Will soon perceive therein a court and presence hale.
When Ahmed's heart was cleansed of evil's fire and smoke,1
Whichever way he turned, God's countenance bespoke.2
So long as man keeps company with evil thought,
How can he understand God's countenance in aught?
He that a window's pierced from heart towards heaven's

recess,

Sees in each mote a ray from Sun of Righteousness.3
God shines apparent in the midst of other things,
As moon in majesty among the stars' twinklings.

25

Place thou two finger-tips upon thy two eyeballs.
What seest thou now of all the world? Darkness befalls. 30
Thou seest it not; but that the world exists, thou'lt trust.
Our vices are the finger-tips of fleshly lust.

Thy finger-tips remove; instanter, as before,

Thou lookest around and seest whate'er thou wilt explore. His people asked of Noah where righteousness might be. He said: "Lo, there! With muffled heads you cannot see. You've wrapped your cloaks in folds about your heads and eyes.

Your sense of sight cannot see what before you lies."

The world's eye man is; all the rest's mere skin and shell.
A real eye's he who strives his "Friend" to see right well.+
Unless we see our Friend, 'twere better we were blind,
A friend that is not constant's better out of mind.

When Rome's ambassador had heard those words so wise,5 His eager curiosity began to rise.

1 Muhammed's heart is believed to have been cleansed by an angel. "God's countenance" means also,

The "Friend" is God, the Gnostic's "darling."

5 "Rome" in Asia means the in Arabic, God's cause. Lower Empire and Asia Minor; or, 3 God is this " 'sun;" the "motes" for the last few centuries, the Ottoare all created objects. man Empire.

35

He sought for 'Umer with redoubled zeal and zest; But in so doing lost his horse, and eke his chest. He wandered everywhere to seek the Caliph out. Like one distracted asked each passer-by his route. "Is't possible," he said, "that such a man there be, 40 When like the soul to sight invisible is he?"

He sought for him as though he'd been his truant slave, But: "He who seeks shall find "'s a very well-known stave. A desert-Arab woman saw he at the last,

Who told him 'Umer, then, beneath date-palm slept fast. Beneath a date-palm! Far from mankind's busy plod. That date-palm's shadow shaded the Shadow of God!1

He went towards the tree; a station took afar; He saw 'Umer; a fit of trembling showed his fear. On that ambassador did awe and dread alight. 45 While o'er his heart there stole a sense of sweet delight. Two feelings, love and dread, by nature opposites, Were mingled in his bosom by some occult rites. He thought within himself: "I've many princes seen; In sovereign presence I have ever welcome been. This fit of awe and trembling's very strange to me; And yet without dismay this man I cannot see. I've been in forests where the lions make their lair; I've met them face to face; yet knew not what was fear. In battle I've been, oft; in thickest of the fight.

50 My arm's upheld our cause, when in most desperate plight.

Wounds have I dealt, received, that threatened life to take,
Among the brave, the bravest; my heart knew no quake.
This man is weaponless, supine upon the ground.
Why then this tremor? It my every limb has bound.
A ghostly awe is this; it's not a mortal fear.
Most certainly it's not a dread of this man here.

1 "Shadow of God on earth" is an Eastern title of royalty.