The Seventeenth Word — Addendum — The Utterance of the Stars — The Words

One time at night in a high spot on Çamdağı (the Pine Mountain) near Barla I was looking at the face of the heavens when the following lines suddenly occurred to me. With the imagination I heard the the stars speaking through the tongue of disposition, and that is how the lines were written. I do not know the rules of versification, so they were written not according to the rules but as they occurred to me. The piece has been taken from the Fourth Letter and from the last part of the First Stopping Place of the Thirty‑Second Word.

The Utterance of the Stars

Then listen to the stars, listen to their harmonious address!

See what wisdom has emblazed on the decree of its light!

All together they start to speak with the tongue of truth,

They address the majesty of the All‑Powerful One of Glory’s sovereignty:

We are each of us light‑scattering proofs of the existence of our Maker;

We are witnesses both to His Unity and His Power;

We are subtle miracles gilding the face of the skies

For the angels to make excursions on;

We are the innumerable attentive eyes of the heavens

That watch the earth, that study Paradise;

We are the innumerable exquisite fruits

that the hand of wisdom of the Beauteous One of Glory has fastened

To the celestial portion of the tree of creation,

to all the branches of the Milky Way;

For the inhabitants of the heavens, we are each of us a travelling mosque,

a spinning house, a lofty home,

Each is an illumining lamp, a mighty ship,

an aeroplane;

We are each of us a miracle of power of the All‑Powerful One of Perfection, The All-Wise One of Glory;

Each a wonder of His creative art,

a rarity of His wisdom, a marvel of His creation,

a world of light;

We demonstrated to true men innumerable proofs,

we made them hear with these innumerable tongues of ours;

But their accursed unseeing, unbelieving eyes did not see our faces,

they did not hear our words; and we are signs that speak the truth;

Our stamp is one; our seal is one; we are mastered by our Sustainer; We glorify Him through our subjugation;

We recite His Names; we are each of us in ecstasy, a member of the mighty circle of the Milky Way.

One time at night in a high spot on Çamdağı (the Pine Mountain) near Barla I was looking at the face of the heavens when the following lines suddenly occurred to me. With the imagination I heard the the stars speaking through the tongue of disposition, and that is how the lines were written. I do not know the rules of versification, so they were written not according to the rules but as they occurred to me. The piece has been taken from the Fourth Letter and from the last part of the First Stopping Place of the Thirty‑Second Word.