Fire leaned toward the ear of smoke and said secretly,
“He can’t do without me. Aloe wood really likes me.
“He understands me. He thanks me,
because the purpose of aloe wood is to burn out, to become non-existent.
At that time, its value becomes apparent.”
Aloe wood is full of knots.
Once it opens up in Absence, all those knots are untied.
O my friend who eats flames and swallows lights, welcome.
O one who is annihilated in me, O my martyr, the one who gives soul, welcome.
O friend whom all my acquaintances praise and are proud, welcome!
Look and see: The Earth and sky are both submerged in existence.
Escape from this dome of sky, from this blind world to Absence.
The one who runs away from Absence is a sad, unlucky person,
one who is escaping from glory, kingdom, and happiness.
No one will benefit from the book of Absence before he is annihilated.
O God who is Loved and Beloved,
help me to make up with Absence, to make peace with Absence.
Without giving of itself, without giving of its existence,
black soil won’t become abundant, but will stay still, become motionless.
If sperm stays sperm, it won’t grow, won’t keep growing,
won’t have a head, face, and rosy cheeks.
When bread and meals are digested in the stomach,
they turn into mind and life, so even the most envious long for that.
Black stone won’t become gold and silver, won’t be worth anything
unless it goes beyond its existence.
To be contemptible and humiliated, later to become the Sultan of Sultans,
this is the way it is.
It is the same during ritual praying, to stand up first, then later, to sit.
We have tried existence our whole life long.
Now, we are due to try Absence.
The clamor of the kingdom of Absence is not fake;
smoke doesn’t come from a place where there is no fire.
By pulling our ears, Love comes every morning to lead us
to the school of “the ones who have kept their promise.”
If Love doesn’t want us, if He hasn’t landed in our way,
why did He catch our heart and snatch our turban?
Was it all for nothing?
In order to clean his heart from grudges, purify it from evil,
the tear of sorrow is flowing from the eye of the faithful.
You are asleep.
Hizir* keeps sprinkling water on your face to wake you up,
so you can pick up the glass of eternity.
Love will tell you the rest of it secretly.
You will be asleep and, at the same time, awake like the friends of the cave.
*Hizir: A legendary Godsend who attained immortality by drinking from the Water of Life. Comes to aid in a critical moment.
Divan-i Kebir, Meter 4, Gazel 52, Verses 2944-2962, Pages 99-101.