Ali Shariati Poetry
 |
| Dr Ali Shariati |
One, Followed with Indefinite Zeros
by: Dr. Ali Shariati
Once upon a time,
there was nothing,
There was nobody,
except God.
The God was kind,
The God was wise,
The God loved beauty,
The God loved kindness,
The God loved merit,
The God disliked silence,
The God disliked tranquility(!),
The God disliked futility,
The God disliked destruction,
The God was creator,
Is it possible that God does not create?
Suddenly, clouds were created.
And freed them to float in the eternal space,
The clouds that were formed of molecules,
each molecule,
A small universe, called, atom:
A sun in the center,
And in its environment, a star, the stars, fly like butterfly. (A Kaaba, in its surroundings, worshipers.)
The clouds started moving,
Powerful, luminous, and foaming,
Like smoke,
Like whirlwind,
Like whirlpool,
Like a rotating fire pot:
A great atom, called, universe:
A sun in between,
In its environment, a star, the stars, fly, like butterfly,
(A Kaaba, in its surroundings, worshipers.)
The life originated,
The plants:
from tiny mosses to large trees,
And, animals:
From microbes to Mammoths,
And in final, Human beings:
Evils and goods,
Evils, worst of all evils,
Goods, best of all goods,
Evils like devil,
Goods, like God.
Life, a tiny living particle, an Egg,
A seed of a planet:
Grows in the ground, rises, attains maturity, turns into a tree,
rejuvenates, scatter branches and leaves, gives blossom and becomes old, dries, dies
and finally turns into dust.
Seeds left behind from it...like the first day...Fetus, infant, child, youth, mature lad, oldness, death,
Again from her, eggs are left behind...like the first day.
The life also circulates:
A seed of plant. the egg of an animal
from the dawn of birth until the night of death, through the complete cycle of life, in vitality, struggle and movement,
Every moment in one place,
anywhere, in one condition,
Always and everywhere, in search of pleasure, in surrounding of necessity, from birth till death.
Once upon a time,
Except God,
there was nothing,
The world was created:
The particles, the universe, the living things....The earths and heavens, the stars and the suns,
The easts and the wests, the planets and the animals, the things visible and things invisible.
Each in movement, struggle, with a constant harmony, in a continuous change,
Life emerged from death, death born of life,
Day emerged from night, night born of day.
Everything in movement, everything in circulation:
A sun in between,
In its environment, a star, the stars, rotating,
A Kaaba, in its surroundings, worshippers- From the black stone to the black stone.
Once upon a time
-Except God-
There was nothing,
There was nobody,
The act of creation came to an end and the universe was established.
The earths and the Heavens, the stars and the suns, the easts and the wests, animates and inanimate, plants and animals, particles, universe.....all in a constant harmony, in continuous change, in movement, in perpetual movement, always in search, in search of something, cycling, around a thing:
A sun in between,
In its environment, a star, the stars, rotating,
A Kaaba, in its surroundings, worshippers- From the black stone to the black stone.
Why are all the things in universe have global shape?
The earth, the star, the sun,
Electron, proton,
Every molecule, every atom,
Every particle:
-The foundation stone of this universe-
A universe:
A town, a village, from headless and endless land of universe.
Why all universal movements in circles?
The earth?
The stars?
The sun?
Electrons and protons?
Every molecule, every atom,
Every particle:
-The foundation stone of this universe-
A universe:
A town, a village, from headless and endless land of universe.
Any animate
-Either a plant or an animal,
Cycle round, in a circular shape,
All the things, in universe, cycle round, in a circular shape,
water, soil,
Day, night,
sunrise, sunset,
every second, every minute, every hour,
every week, every month, every season,
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter,...every year,
Once upon a time,
there was nothing,
There was nobody,
except God.
There existed the Earths,
There existed the Heavens,
The stars, the suns,
the easts and the wests
Open space of the universe of unknown origination and unknown termination,
And in this side,
A sun in between,
In its environment, a star, the stars, flying like butterfly,
And altogether: one "universe".
And on that side, another universe,
And in another side, another universe,
And another one,
And two, and ten, and a thousand, and a million, a billiard...Nobody knows how many billiards!
Write the figure "1" on a piece of paper.
Go ahead and put "zeros" in front of it.
When you finish that sheet of paper, get more paper
If your ink in exhausted, buy more ink,
Then your hands are tired [of putting zeros in front of "1"], ask you r friend to continue,
Then he is tired too, you continue again,
Then you are eating meal, let him put the zeros,
And when you are putting the zeros, let him eat his food,
Then it is night, you sleep in turn,
You put zero when he is asleep; then when he is awake, you sleep and let him put the zeros,
Then both of you become old, ask your children to continue putting down the zeros,
At the very last days of your life, when you have become very very old,
Just stop your hand from this task for a moment:
At the beginning, you were only two children,
you only knew to put zeros,
Now, you have turned into two old men confined to the ground,
You can count only the zeros,
Once again you have turned into a child,
You have become like the first days,
The days, when elders sympathized you,
cared for you, looked after you, sometimes they make mock of you,
and now the youngsters,
Now that you have become more childish,
Now that you are an old child,
A child with beard and lots of hairs,
Have walked, eighty years, ninety years, hundred years,
Have labored for one hundred years,
You have passed over from the years and years and years of life,
Have arrived at terminal, while have arrived at origin,
Again, you have become a child,
You were dust, turned into food,
A loaf in the mouth of Papa,
A loaf in the mouth of Mama,
A particle in the abdomen of Mama,
A particle in the back of your Papa,
............. Papa and Mama married each other,
That turned into a particle,
And that one particle (1), was you,
In the womb of Mama,
Like an egg, in t he womb of a hen,
From the warmth and blood of the body of Mama,
You came into being, you grew,
Like an egg, under the feather of a chicken,
Nine months, nine days, nine hours lapsed,
Mama felt pain:
"You broke the shell of the egg",
"And you jumped out at once."
You fell into the cradle,
Your yes could not see,
Your ears could not hear.
Your legs could not hold you,
Your hands could not hold things,
Your mind did not work,
You did not recognize anyone,
You had fallen into the cradle,
You could do only three things:
1- To suck milk, 2- To wet your underneath 3- To cry
One hundred years passed,
Your eyes cannot sea, your ears cannot hear.
Your legs cannot walk, your mind does not work,
You do not understand a thing, you do not recognize anybody,
You are confined to your bed,
You know only three things to do:
1-..............2-...............3-..............!!
You die later,
You will be thrown into the bosom of the earth.
Again, you will remain from you,
"You" will remain,
The human beings circulate,
Like the earth, like the time, like the spring, like everything:
Water, flower, tree, earth, sun, universes, galaxies, all of the world.
You were nothing, you were dust, you circulated, you turned into nothing, you turned into dust.
What will remain from you:
All be your deeds,
Will be the deeds you have done,
.......If you have done any deeds, you will remain,
Now be seated, you old child,
What are the number of stars and the universes?
"1", with a million zero in front of it?
One hundred million zeros? One billiard? Hundred billiards...
You are unable to count,
"1", in front of it one hundred meters of zeros? one kilometer?
hundred thousand of KM?
What actually do exist, multiply it in itself,
Multiply it again, and again, multiply it in itself,
Multiply it again, and again,
If the paper is filled, use more
If your ink is exhausted,..........
If your hands become tired,...........
Sleep........food,.........friend,.....continue,...........children,...........
How many are the figures of the stars, universes, and all the things in the universe?
"1"
In front of "1", Zeros
One thousand zeros? One billiard?
One hundred kilometers? Or more?
from before the "1", to where, the line of zeros?
To the other side of the town? To other side of mountains?
Until the sea? Until the field? Until the horizon?
Until....the other side of the world?
To the bottom of the world?
Negative, negative, until always, until everywhere,
Until anywhere possible,
Until where that you be able to count,
And be able to put zero before "1".
The number of plants,
The birds, the reptiles, the beasts,
Human beings, the fairies,
The earths, and the skies,
The stars, the suns, the universes,
Things visible, and things invisible,
The ups and downs,
The beauty and ugliness,
The good and evils,
Whatever do exist,
Whatever which exist in this world,
Whatever the world is called,
All the universe, all the existences, this is it all.
This is the spirit of the world:
The number of all the things in the world,
Whatever on earth, or in heaven,
Inanimate, plants, animals, humans,
The stars the suns, the universe,
This is the figure of all the existing things:
"1", in front of it, till eternity, Zeros.
Look! Only "1" is figure,
It is a unit figure,
Other than "1", whatever which exist, whether ten, thousand, whether a million or a billiard, and what innumerable figures-
Those are not numbers, those are nothing!
They exist but they don't'!
They don't exist but they do!
They are "zero". i.e.: They are hollow,
They are nothing,
They are futile,
They are senseless,
They do not have the value of even a normal figure,
"They do not exist",
Because, only "1" is a figure,
As it is a unit figure,
But the same "zero", when sits before the one "1"..............?
When "zeros" are placed before the one "1",
Turn the "1" into millions and billions,
But all the hundreds, millions and billiards are only "1":
hundreds of "1", millions of "1", billiards of "1"....
because,
only "1" is figure,
Two and three and four and five and six and seven and eight and nine means:
tow "1", three "1", four "1", five "1", six "1", seven "1", eight "1", nine "1",
ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen....twenty....thirty......
One hundred, two hundred,....
One thousand, two thousand,....
One million, one billion, one trillion, one quaternion.........and all
are only
"1",
and the rest are zero.
In mathematics:
Only "1" is a figure,
In this universe:
It exist the only figure.
The remaining whatever which exist,
are all zeros,
all nothing,
all futile and hollow,
"Zero": A hollow circle,
It circulates around,
And finally arrives at its beginning point, and...
nothing!
that is all.
There is only "1"-and before it- till eternity-zeros,
Zero: Hollow, futile, nothing,
When wishes to be "itself",
to be alone,
Is that when it wants to be with zeros only,
But when it sits before "1"...........?
And when it wishes to exist only for "1",
And to free itself from futility and loneliness,
should become the companion of "1"?.
You, my dear child.
The child of nine or ten years of age,
That you were nothing, you were dust, you turned into food,
Next eighty or ninety years, you will change into an old child,
You will turn into nothing, you will turn into dust,
You will circulate,
Like a circle,
Without aim, without meaning, hollow:
Once again, from the bottom, you will arrive to the initial point,
Like zero,
When you live for yourself,
When you wish to be only for your "own self",
To be alone,
When you wish to be only with zeros,
Your life, like a curve line, will cycle on yourself,
Like zero,
Again, from the bottom you will arrive, to the initial point,
You will remain, you will stink,
Like a pool,
You will be confined, like a circle,
Like "zero".
But if you sit before "1",..............?
If you wish to be only for "1",
and release yourself from futility and loneliness,
and be a companion of "1",..........?
You must live for others,
Your life, is like a horizontal line, and will move ahead,
Like a road,
Like a stream,
When you depart from "Yourself",
from the bottom, you will arrive to a habitable place, like a road,
from the bottom, you will spill into the sea, like a stream,
But if you sit before "1",
And if you wish to exist only for "1",
And come out of futility and loneliness,
And be a companion of "1",
You must die for "others",
You r life, will ascend, like a vertical line,
Like a wave,
Like a storm,
Like a high and proud peak,
Among the hills,
Like a cypress,
Among the mastoids- which grow in the face of sun,
Which stretch towards the sky-
Like a" Great Man", like a "Martyr",
An "Imam",
Among the wolves, among the foxes, among the mice,
which "rise up", which "stand",
rise, stand,
among the zeros,
Like "1".
Yes,
Only "1" is a figure,
It is the only unit figure,
The number of stars, the universes,
The earths and the heavens,
The number of all the things in universe,
"1",
In front of it-
till eternity-
Zeros.
There is "1".
There is no "1", Except God,
There is nothing,
There is nobody,
One, In front of It, Till Eternity, Zeros.
*****