Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 42. AL-JAMIL, by EDWIN ARNOLD


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 42. AL-JAMIL, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Too much ye tremble, too much fear to feel
Last Line: Behold the roses on that tree.
Subject(s): Flowers; God; Islam; Roses; Worship


Al-Jamil! "the Benign;" ah, name most dear,
Which bids us love worship without fear.

Too much ye tremble, too much fear to feel
That yearning love which Allah's laws reveal;
Too oft forget—your troubled journey through—
He who is Power, is Grace and Beauty too,
And Clemency, and Pity, and Pure Rest,
The Highest and the Uttermost and Best;
Sweeter than honey, and more dear to see
Than any loveliness on land or sea
By bard or lover praised, or famed in story;
For these were shadows of His perfect glory;
Which is not told, because, who sees God near
Loseth the speech to speak, in loving fear,
So joyous is he, so astonishèd.

Hath there come to ye what the Dervish said,
At Kaisareya, in the marble shrine,
Who woke from vision of the love divine?
"I have seen Allah!" quoth he—all aglow
With splendor of the dream which filled him so—
"Yea! I have paced the Garden of Delight,
And heard and known!"
"Impart to us thy light,"
His fellows cried.

He paused, and smiled, and spake:
"Fain would I say it, brothers, for your sake,
For I have wandered in a sphere so bright,
Have heard such things, and witnessed such a sight,
That now I know whither all Nature turns,
And what the love celestial is which burns,
At the great heart of all the world, ensuring
That griefs shall pass and joy be all enduring.
Yet ask me not! I am as one who came
Where, among roses, one bush, all aflame
By fragrant crimson blossoms, charged the air
With loveliness and perfume past compare.
Then had I thought to load my skirt with roses,
That ye might judge what wealth that land discloses;
And filled my robe, plucking the peerless blooms;
But Ah! the scent so rich, so heavenly, comes;
So were my senses melted into bliss
With the intoxicating breath of this;
I let the border of my mantle fall—
The roses slipped! I bring ye none at all."

Brothers! with other eyes must we
Behold the Roses on that Tree.





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