The Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry

[T]he first step on the Path is to begin to contemplate the futility of the world of dust, the world in whi

[T]he first step on the Path is to begin to contemplate the futility of the world of dust, the world in which one's lower self is doomed. The seeker must renounce it all, including his own self, and seek that which is Everlasting. He must travel from things to Nothing, from existence to Nonexistence.

How does one get lost on purpose? Our present state is one of forgetfulness toward the Divine—the true Self—and remembrance of worldly affairs and the lower self. The cure for this is a reversal: remembrance of the true Self, the Divine within, and forgetfulness toward everything else. (40)

Quatrain by Binavi Badakhshani (p. 95)

I became water
and saw myself
a mirage
became an ocean
saw myself a speck
of foam
gained Awareness
saw that all is but
forgetfulness
woke up
and found myself
asleep.

Quatrain by 'Ayn al-Qozat Hamadani

He Who splashed a thousand worlds with color
How can He buy the paint of "I and thou"?
Colors, colors—nothing but whim and fantasy;
HE is colorless, and one must adopt his hue. (98)

From Lord of the Haram by Fo'ad Kermani (pp. 113-4)

Divine Essence is beyond thought.
So cut this philosophic guff:
our minds can never grasp
nor eyes perceive
that absolute Absolute—
so when it comes to this
the brain is mired and boggled
in bewilderment
and the foot of perception
stuck in the door.

Even the Universal intellect
cannot comprehend his Essence
so how can these paltry flecks
of gray matter compete?
No one gets to the Essence
except the Essence.
Only through His Power
do things attain permanence.
How can that-which-does-not-exist
reach the Absolute?