East With Ibn Battuta - Excerpt
1. Cairo 1326
Cloisters (khanqahs) of Darvishes
Built by aristocrats
Have silver rings on their doors
The mystics sit down to eat
Each from his private bowl
Each drinks
From his own cup
They are given
Changes of clothing
And a monthly allowance
On Thursday nights
They are given sugar
Soap and oil
For their lamps
And the price of a bath.
In the great cemetery
They build chambers
Pavilions
Hire singers
To chant the Koran
Day and night among the tombs
With pleasant voices.
....
For My Brother - Missing In Action 1943 - Excerpt
Sweet brother, if I do not sleep
My eyes are flowers for your tomb;
And if I cannot eat my bread,
My fasts shall live like willows where you died.
If in the heat I find no water for my thirst,
My thirst shall turn to springs for you, poor traveller.
Where, in what desolate and smokey country,
Lies your poor body, lost and dead?
And in what landscape of disaster
Has your unhappy spirit lost its road?
...
A Dirge - Excerpt
Some one who hears the bugle neigh will know
How cold it is when sentries die by starlight.
But none who love to hear the hammering drum
Will look, when the betrayer
Laughs in the desert like a broken monument,
Ringing his tongue in the red bell of his head,
Gesturing like a flag.
...
- Thomas Merton
