A drop of sea water
by Mahmud Shabistari

Behold how this drop of sea-water

Has taken so many forms and names;

It has existed as mist, cloud, rain, dew, and mud,

Then plant, animal, and perfect man;

And yet it was a drop of water

From which these things appeared.

Even so this universe of reason, soul, heavens, and bodies,

Was but a drop of water in its beginning and ending.

…When a wave strikes it, the world vanishes;

and when the appointed time comes to heaven and stars,

Their being is lost in not being.

By Mahmud Shabistari, tr. Florence Lederer. Material excerpted from The Secret Rose Garden by Mahmud Shabistari © 2002, used with permission from Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC Newburyport, MA www.redwheelweiser.com