Günther Uecker

Werk 11

That Night of Qadr people of khalvat speak of is tonight.
O Lord, what star’s influence has caused this fortune?
In order to keep the hands of the undeserved off your tress,
Every heart in every ring is chanting «O Lord! O Lord!”
I am captured by your chin-dimple, which has the necks of
A hundred thousand souls under the yoke from every side.
My royal rider, the mirror-holder of whose face is the moon,
The crown of the lofty sun is the dust of his horse’s shoe.
Behold the glow of sweat on his cheek. In desire of that Sweat, the
fast-moving sun is in fever everyday.
I will not abandon the beloved›s ruby and the cup of wine.
My apologies, O ascetics. This is my religion.
The water of life drips from the eloquent beak of my pen’s Crow.
Praised be the Lord, what a great fountain it is!
He who shoots an arrow from his eye‘s corner at my heart,
The sustenance of Hafes’s soul is in the smile beneath his lip.
The water of life trickleth from the beak (pen) of my eloquence.
In God’s name! What a lofty drinker the black crow of my pen is!

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