Oh Holy One, if ever You should ask— 

By Yunus Emre

Oh Holy One, if ever You should ask— 

these would be my answers to You:

I have sinned against myself,

but what, oh King, have I done to You?

Before I came, You said my soil was bad.

Before I was born, Adam rebelled.

In the eternal past I was written down a rebel.

You filled the universe with my loud voice.

You did whatever You wanted with me.

You brought me to whatever I found.

Have I constructed You? It’s You who made me. 

Why, oh Enricher, did You fill me with things to be 

ashamed of?

I open my eyes and what I see is the prison inside. 

It’s filled with animal needs, demons, and ambitions.

So that I would not die in this prison,

I have eaten unclean foods once or twice.

Has anything that You possess diminished, 

or has my judgment ever surpassed Yours?

Did I eat Your daily bread and leave You hungry? 

Did I waste Your wealth and leave You in poverty?

You stretch a bridge thin as a hair

and say, “Come and save yourself from My trap!”

Your servants build bridges with good in mind— 

the good of crossing safely.

They build them strong so that people who pass over 

might say, ‘This is a good bridge.”

You set up scales to weigh people’s intentions, 

and You intend to put me in the fire.

It’s grocers who need scales— 

and greedy peddlars and druggists.

Because sin is the prize of the filthy,

even the useless gain something from Your being.

All I want from You is Your love.

Why uncover my faults and put them on a scale?

Will it please You to watch me burn?

For God’s sake, oh Teacher of Creation, it’s impossible.

You are All-Seeing. You, Yourself, know my state.

Why then do You need to weigh my actions?

Didn’t Your need for revenge end when You killed me? 

You made me rot and stuffed my eyes with dirt.

Has the hand of Yunus ever hurt You,

You who know the Seen and the Unseen?

So many empty words from a handful of dirt!

What do You need, oh Generous One, oh Power! 

Yunus Emre, tr. Kabir Helminski and Refik Algan in The Drop That Became The Sea: Lyric Poems of Yunus Emre (Shambhala, 2000). Copyright © 1989