On the Architecture of Free Men
Seek for a while the company of the ancients, Have a look at the art of free people.
Arise and see the work of Aibak and Suri; Open your eyes, if you have the heart to see.
They displayed their inner selves before the people, And thus saw themselves through the eyes of others.
By raising a structure of stones They captured eternity in a moment.
Looking on it makes you mature, And transports you to another world.
A symbol leads you to its creator And lets you peep into his innermost heart.
A spirit of manly adventure and noble nature Are the two precious jewels in the heart of the stone
Donʹt ask me: Whose prayer‐ground is this? O you ignorant! body cannot reveal the experiences of the soul.
Woe me! I am hidden from myself, And have not tasted water from the river of life.
Woe me! I am uprooted from my native soil And have fallen far away from my real position.
Stability arises from deep faith, Woe me! the branch of my faith is sapless.
I do not possess that power (which is implicit in) illallah; My prostration is not befitting this shrine.
Just cast a glance on that pure jewel— Look at the Taj in the moonlight.
Its marble ripples faster than flowing waters, A moment spent here is more stable than eternity.
Love of men has expressed its secret, And perforated the stone by their eyelashes.
Love of men is pure and charming like a paradise, It produces songs from brick and stone.
Love of men is the criterion of beauty; It unveils beauty and sanctifies it too.
His aspirations soar beyond the sky, And go away from this world of quantity.
As what he sees cannot be expressed in words, He whisks away veil from his heart.
Through love passions are elevated, The worthless gain value through it.
Without love life is all a‐wailing Its whole affair becomes corrupt and unstable.
Love polishes oneʹs common sense, And imparts the quality of mirror to the stone.
It gives to the people with enlightened heart, the heart of Sinai, And gives to the men of skill the ʺwhiteʺ hand.
Beside him, all possibilities and existences are nothing All the world is bitter; it alone is sweet honey.
To its fire is due the vigour of our thought To create and to infuse soul is its work.
Love suffices men, animals, and insects: ʺLove alone suffices the two worlds.ʺ
Love without power is magic, Love with power is prophecy.
Love combined both in its manifestations, Love thus created a world out of a world.