Seek Him in the Placeless
Every Couplet Ends in Flight
Dīvān-e Shams, ode XX · tr. R. A. Nicholson, 1898Grasp the skirt of his favour, for on a sudden he will flee;But draw him not, as an arrow, for he will flee from the bow.What delusive forms does he take, what tricks does he invent!If he is present in form, he will flee by the way of spirit.Seek him in the sky, he shines in water, like the moon;When you come into the water, he will flee to the sky.Seek him in the placeless, he will sign you to place;When you seek him in place, he will flee to the placeless.As the arrow speeds from the bow, like the bird of your imagination,Know that the Absolute will certainly flee from the Imaginary.I will flee from this and that, not for weariness, but for fearThat my gracious Beauty will flee from this and that.As the wind I am fleet of foot, from love of the rose I am like the zephyr;The rose in dread of autumn will flee from the garden.His name will flee, when it sees an attempt at speech,So that you cannot even say, ‘Such an one will flee.’He will flee from you, so that if you limn his picture,The picture will fly from the tablet, the impression will flee from the soul.
- Earliest record
- 1372The oldest witness Nicholson lists for this ode is the manuscript he followed, B: British Museum Or. 2866, dated 1st Jumādā ’l Ākhir, 774 A.H. (late 1372). The foot of the Persian on p. 80 lists B, Cowell's manuscript C, the Tabriz edition T and the Vienna manuscript V, dated 845 A.H. Nicholson's Appendix III places the ode in the Tabriz edition at p. 171.
Every couplet ends on one Persian word, “will flee”. In couplet 5 Nicholson's “Absolute” is yaqīn, which his 1898 note glosses as truth known intuitively.
Nicholson, Selected Poems (1898), the Persian of ode XX on pp. 80 and 82, and his notes on couplets 5 and 6, p. 257
Nine couplets on one verb: the Beloved will flee from the bow, from form, sky, water, place and his own name.
More context
Ode XX, nine couplets, printed here whole. Each couplet turns on the same verb: the Beloved will flee. Drawn like an arrow, he flees from the bow. Present in form, he flees by the way of spirit. Sought in the sky, he shines in water, and sought in water, he is in the sky. Sought in the placeless, he points to place, and sought in place, he is gone to the placeless. The Absolute flees the Imaginary. The speaker flees “this and that” for fear his Beauty will. The rose flees autumn. The name flees speech, so that no one can even say “Such an one will flee”. A picture of him flies from the tablet. Nicholson followed the British Museum manuscript dated 774 A.H. (B), the oldest dated manuscript he lists, for the Persian. He found the ode also in Cowell's manuscript (C), the Tabriz edition (T) and the Vienna copy (V).
Light
It makes elusiveness a teaching rather than a grievance. The only hold the poem allows is the one in its first line: the skirt of his favour.
Shadow
It leaves nothing to rest on. Form, sky, water, place, speech and image are each taken away. Nicholson's gloss asks the seeker to give up his own exertions.