Classic Poem

Under the leaf of many a Fable lies
The Truth for those who look for it; of this
If thou wouldst look behind and find the Fruit,
(To which the Wiser hand hath found his way)
Have thy desire — No Tale of M E and Thee ,
Though I and T HOU be its Interpreters.
What signifies T HE Shah ? and what T HE S AGE ?
And what S ALÁMÁN not of Woman born?
Who was A BSÁL who drew him to Desire?
And what the K INGDOM that awaited him
When he had drawn his Garment from her hand?
What means T HAT S EA ? And what that F IERY P ILE ?
And what that Heavenly Z UHRAH who at last
Clear'd A BSÁL from the Mirror of his Soul?
Listen to me, and you shall understand
The Word that Lover wrote along the sand.

The incomparable Creator, when this World
He did create, created first of all
The F IRST I NTELLIGENCE — First of a Chain
Of Ten Intelligences, of which the Last
Sole Agent is in this our Universe,
A CTIVE I NTELLIGENCE so call'd; The One
Distributer of Evil and of Good,
Of Joy and Sorrow. Himself apart from M ATTER ,
In Essence and in Energy — He yet
Hath fashion'd all that is — Material Form,
And Spiritual, all from H IM — by H IM
Directed all, and in his Bounty drown'd.
Therefore is He that Firman-issuing Shah
To whom the World was subject. But because
What He distributes to the Universe
Another and a Higher Power supplies,
Therefore all those who comprehend aright,
That Higher in T HE S AGE will recognise.

HIS the P RIME S PIRIT that, spontaneously
Projected by the T ENTH I NTELLIGENCE ,
Was from no Womb of M ATTER reproduced
A special Essence called T HE S OUL OF Man ;
A Child of Heaven, in raiment unbeshamed
Of Sensual taint, and so S ALÁMÁN named.

And who A BS├üL ? — The Sense-adoring Body,
Slave to the Blood and Sense — through whom T HE S OUL ,
Although the Body's very Life it be,
Doth yet imbibe the knowledge and delight
Of things of S ENSE ; and these, in such a bond
United as G OD only can divide,
As Lovers in this tale are signified.

And what the Flood on which they sail'd, with those
Fantastic creatures peopled; and that Isle
In which their Paradise awhile they made,
And thought, for ever? — That false Paradise
Amid the fluctuating Waters found
Of Sensual passion, in whose bosom lies
A world of Being from the light of God
Deep as in unsubsiding Deluge drown'd.

And why was it that A BSÁL in that Isle
So soon deceived in her Delight, and He
Fell short of his Desire? — that was to show
How soon the Senses of their Passion tire,
And in a surfeit of themselves expire.

And what the turning of S ALÁMÁN 's Heart
Back to the Shah , and to the throne of Might
And Glory yearning? — What but the return
Of the lost S OUL to his true Parentage,
And back from Carnal error looking up
Repentant to his Intellectual Right.

And when the Man between his living shame
Distracted, and the Love that would not die,
Fled once again — what meant that second Flight
Into the Desert, and that Pile of Fire
On which he fain his Passion with Himself
Would immolate? — That was the Discipline
To which the living Man himself devotes,
Till all the Sensual dross be scorcht away,
And, to its pure integrity return'd,
His Soul alone survives. But forasmuch
As from a darling Passion so divorc'd
The wound will open and will bleed anew,
Therefore T HE S AGE would ever and anon
Raise up and set before Salaman's eyes
That Fantom of the past; but evermore
Revealing one Diviner, till his Soul
She fill'd and blotted out the Mortal Love.
For what is Z UHRAH ? — What but that Divine
Original, of which the Soul of Man
Darkly possest, by that fierce Discipline
At last he disengages from the Dust,
And flinging off the baser rags of Sense,
And all in Intellectual Light arrayed,
As Conqueror and King he mounts the Throne,
And wears the Crown of Human Glory — Whence
Throne over Throne surmounting, he shall reign
One with the L AST and F IRST I NTELLIGENCE .

This is the meaning of this Mystery,
Which to know wholly ponder in thy Heart,
Till all its ancient Secret be enlarged.
Enough — The written Summary I close,
And set my Seal —