The Tarjumán al-Ashwáq/Poem 1
2. And would that my heart knew what mountain-pass they threaded!
3. Dost thou deem them safe or dost thou deem them dead?
4. Lovers lose their way in love and become entangled.
1. 'They,' i.e. the Divine Ideas ((Arabic characters)), of which the hearts (of gnostics) are passionately enamoured, and by which the spirits are distraught, and for whose sake the perform their works of ((Arabic characters)) godly workers devotion.
'What heart' he refers to the perfect Muhammadan heart, because it is not limited by stations ((Arabic characters)). Nevertheless, it is possessed by the Divine Ideas, for they seek it and it seeks them. They cannot know that they possess it, for they belong to its essence, inasmuch as it beholds in them nothing except its own nature.
2. 'What mountain-pass they threaded,' i.e. what gnostic's heart they entered when they vanished from mine. 'Mountain-pass' signifies a 'station' ((Arabic characters)), which is fixed, in contrast to a 'state' ((Arabic characters)), which is fleeting.
3. The Divine Ideas, quâ Ideas, exist only in the existence of the scer; they are 'dead' in so far as the seer is nonexistent.
4. Lovers are perplexed between two opposite things, for the lover wishes to be in accord with the Beloved and also wishes to be united with Him, so that if the Beloved wishes to be separated from the lover, the lover is in a dilemma.