Love or Life?
 
It reached a point where love has replaced life for sure [1] 
Health caved in and wisdom shipwrecked ashore
 
Army of love marching the trampled battlefield of heart
The splendid dreams of Beloved entered the courtyard of life
 
Again I dulled the sharp blade of patience rusty and blunt [2] 
Did it really have the varnish of luck? (No!) Hence the rust
 
Its love fell into my life easy, lots of moans and screams [3] 
You might have said: Indeed an arrow landed on the silk
 
I was deceived by ‘yesterday’ that, “Khaqaani is one of us!” [4] 
Relying on these words, again how can I place my trust?
 
 
 
 
[1] Within the human being there is not enough room for both life and love! The man should choose between the two? There is no other way. Once the man chooses love, in that precise moment, although the bodily and cognitive functions are continued, he desists from living. Although still enjoys the pleasures of life, no longer seeks them actively, if they come his way is filled with gratitude if they are afar, he is filled with gratitude.
 
 
[2] He means that he is gone beyond being patient and his endurance has gone beyond what he can bear.
 
 
[3] ‘Its’ refers to the Creator. In spite of a lot of fake sages and sheikhs and other false intellectuals, Khaqaani claims that the love of Allah can easily conquer and engulf a man. Like an arrow ripping through the silk, Creator’s love captures all fabrics of our existence.
 
 
[4] Read the book of your past, the only book you really meant to read. It is filled chapter after chapter with people and yourself offering most sincere promises of “trust me you are one of us” or “trust me I will be there for you” or “trust me don’t you know that I love you”. Teach yourself now, as did Khaqaani, that the only true promise of love and belonging is from the Creator, because It never breaks promises.


© 2003-2002,  By Dara Shayda