The following Qaṣīda also he wrote, imposing upon himself the necessity of introducing the words “hair” and “ant,” in a declaration of the unity of God and in praise of the Prophet, may the peace of God be upon him.
Although with my tongue, I split hairs at the time of dis- 76.
course, still in the praise of God, by reason of amazement, I
am dumb as the ant.
* And in the pursuit of the fairy-faced ones with chainlike
locks, through desire often have I bound fast, like the ant,
my life to my waist with my heart.
And for the sake of the ant-eyed and sugar-lipped ones, in my
fancy I have bored the hair of speech a hundred ways by
way of trial.
That I might have a store like the ant,* in his praise I have
cleft the hair into halves, and have not received one jot
from any one in recognition.
Henceforth, like the ant, I will gird my loins at the door of
the Incomparable one, and from the root of each hair,* with
a hundred tongues will I proclaim his gracious aid.
How can I open my lips, I that am voiceless as an ant and a
fish. Nay rather will I make each hair a tongue to scatter
pearls.
With this ant-like writing and these sugar-like words,* by
means of poetical arrangement I will split the hair in the
declaration of the unity of God the discerner of secrets.
That God to whose workmanship each several hair bears
witness, and all that exists, ant and fish and snake, wild
beasts and birds, men and genii.*
He who alone is self-existent, and is not within the bounds of
computation, from whose wisdom* in both worlds nothing
is hidden, neither the track of the ant nor the point of the
hair.
If, though as a single hair, His favour is shed upon the egg
of an ant, from it there will issue in a single moment a
hundred Jamshīds, each one like a hundred Jamshīds.
If, though as a single hair, he lets fall his wrath upon an
elephant, the elephant will experience that which the
cub of the raging lion suffers from the ant.*
77. The intellect herein cannot understand, even by a hair's breadth,
the reason why the offspring of the powerful lion should
become the prey of the powerless ant.
In his decree there is not the space of a hair's point open to
criticism, even though he should give the kingdom of a
Solomon to an ant without recompense.*
By his decree, the shape of the ant and the lion are
similar, and by his art the colour of hair and bone are
opposites.
By his grace it is that every hair has knowledge of him, and
from his equity it comes to pass that there is a* guardian
over every ant, that * dust in the palm is endowed with
chemical properties, and water in the sea becomes converted
into pearl;* that the ant appears to the eye as a dragon,
and a hair of the limbs as a spear.*
Oh Thou by whose power hair and blood and bone take shape,
Oh Thou* who art surety for the daily supply of food to
bird and ant and snake and fish.
In the body of every ant there is an exact account of thy
equity, on the point of each hair there is a boundless praise
of thy bounty.
The eye of thy mercy provides* sustenance for every ant and
locust. The hand of thy favour tints the hair of all both
old and young.
The pen of thy skill shews* that of which a manifest sign
is shewn on the body of every ant, and appears on the end
of every hair.
The mole on the cheek of the brides appear like spots on a
mirror.
The hair on the face of kings appears like ants upon the
Arghawān.*
By thy order it is that the stomachless ant is hungry in
the way.
By this bounty it is that the motionless hair upon the body
is satisfied.
78. * He who did not turn away* his head from your door even by
a hairs' breadth, the ant, although tongueless, began to
praise him like the lizard.*
When he like the ant became sleepless and fasting in devotion
to you then without doubt with the sword of the finger he
split the moon into two parts like a hair.*
He was a sign like the true dawn, hair-splitting in his speech.
His followers were as successful as ants in opposing the
scorpions of religion.
The silvery body ef the seven heavens, would become (black)
like ants, when he cast aside the covering from his dark
locks.
He lived like ants upon the earth in the midst of poverty,
For this reason the heaven appeared in his eyes as inferior in
value to an eyelash.
In that place where the angels would have always cast their
wings like ants,
If he had placed his foot even one hair's breadth beyond his
abode.
* In intercession from the lightness of his spirit he split a hair,
So that, for the sake of an ant, intercession was not heavy to
him even by the weight of a hair.
If for the sake of an ant one fell into error, he would make
his excuse.
He remained without bounty if he was not thankful in the
least.
On that night when he caught the least glimpse of that
illuminated dwelling
Wings* grew upon him like the ant in his desire for the
infinite.
Having cast his eye upon the fat morsel of the world which
perishes like a hair, he closed the avenues of his appetite
against this turquoise-hued table,* like the ant.
For the ants of religion he carried away so much provision
that there remained on the point of each hair an evidence
of that bounty* for ever and ever.
79. Oh thou Creator, I have made every hair a tongue, but yet
like an ant I complain in my heart of my voicelessness
to sing thy praise.
If thou hadst illumined the eye of the ant like the thread
of hair, without the permission* of thy mercy this caravan
would not have passed.
I am like an ant in water, or like a hair in the fire, because
this sugar-scattering mind of mine is not fit for this relation.*
I have the foot of effort in the stirrup of devotion to you
like the ant; as long as one single hair remains of me*
I will not desist from this endeavour.
How can my burden be in the least degree lightened apart
from thy consent? How can I gird my loins like the ant
through avarice,* in the service of this one or that?
Although like the ant I have been crushed by the (iron)
hand of desire
Yet I never contemplated the slightest idea of profit or loss
apart from thee.
Since this is from thee I am happy, although my heart is
distraught and pained; my heart is like the eye of the ant
and my* condition is like the hair of the heart-ravishing
one.
If the ant brought the foot of a locust into the presence of
Solomon, Shihāb would have come headlong to thy door
with the feet of his soul about his head as hair.
The ant of thy generous table O Sāliḥ showed him (Shihāb)
that path of rectitude.
O Lord! grant him protection in crossing that hair like
bridge* over the fire
On the point of each hair of his you have a hundred favours,
for this reason that the heart of an ant is not vexed by
him by so much as a hair's breadth in the world.
Oh Lord!* keep a watch upon the enemy of the king's domi-
nions, for this is best, that he should be as a hair in the fire
and as an ant in the running water.