I am Hallaj

I am Hallaj, An-al-Haq (I am the truth)

You are the angry Abbasid Caliph

Even before I have made the proclamation

You torture me so by already putting me on the pyre

I whirl like the dervish in divine ecstasy

Until you come along and vanish before I could see properly

Your brief appearance is like a thunderstorm devastating

It blows over calm waters and wrecks havoc over my city

One moment I see you, it is followed by a longing so deep

I stop whirling and am surrounded only by you entirely

I feel like a helpless deer trapped in the hunters net

And you are the lioness waiting to hunt me down

And yet it looks as though you are not hungry yet

For you look at me from the bushes where I cannot see you

When I see you I submerge in your murky waters

I do not want to surface but to stay within

Inside these waters I see nothing but you

When the fakir comes I leave your river

He takes me to water so clear

That I can see you me and everyone else

And yet, once I am away from there

I again feel like submerging in your river

And yet your abode is across this river vast

I have tried to swim across, but the distance is large

I tire myself out and then again

Submerge and am satisfied to remain within

And I remain there for the fakir

To pull me out and cleanse me

How long will this cycle last

I wish to get out of this fast

I wish you would leave your abode so far

And submerge with me in the fakir's ocean of bliss