دار بيبليون
In front of the Hallaj Cross/Poem by Lwiis Saliba, read on Zoom, Wednesday 4/5/2022
My Lord The Haqq (the Absolute)
The day you were hanged
On the cross, you claimed:
That this is the easiest way
Easy, never to be seen,
To absolute mysticism’.
But your body was cut up,
In Zikr you were diligent
The repetition heard
Of God’s name was spread
From your neck your Head fell, thick,
Mumbling: ‘ONE’…then fell silent!
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You lived the Oneness
With the air you breathed it
And then you did not stop
For all intents and purposes to repeat
Her rooted testimony
Even with breathlessness!
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You taught, without fail,
That religions are ‘one’.
From different names they come,
But the meaning remains the same.
You have written this teaching
With the letters of your blood
Engraved on the cross itself.
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You opened up by martyrdom
The unity of all religions
And your cross to the banks of the river
Is the bridge that proves,
The passage between Muslims,
Between people of the Book and the Koran,
Bringing the Revelation
By your body, on the Tigris: lying
Scattering your ashes in a gift.
A journey from the culture
Of Mesopotamia, so that
That the Ganges and its civilisation
Come together in this adventure!
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You have loved and adored
He who went before you.
On the cross he was indwelt
By the Spirit of the beloved God.
You wanted to meet him
And so live his truth
In order to realise it.
Thus your life, your death too
Was the very image of HIM.
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In al-Haqq, you have unified yourself,
Uniting your humanity
To its own divinity.
And his own divinity
With your own humanity!
Uniting his life with your death
And your death to his life again…
Happy that you are: unified
United with the One, and fascinated!
Unifying in acceptance
United with the One, united with the Only One.
Byblos, July 1998