The Sea of Non-Existence

By Imam Khomeini

I wish one day my house could move into your ground

Thus both happiness and grief would be desires of the

heart

I wish I had a lock of your hair in my hand

With it I’d unlock every door and unravel every

problem

Last night when the heart pulsed like a dark house

The memory of you was a luminous candle in that

assembly

Our friends lay stricken ravished and senseless under

the grip of wine;

Destitute was the one in that crowd who was sane

They who broke all obligations rank as mindless

oppressors

Unaware of themselves, their place and existence

To any who when you have lost their heart knowledge

becomes a veil,

When the veil is removed only ignorance emerges.

The lover plunges into the sea of non-existence from

joy,

But ignorant is the one who lands on the darkness of

the shore

When I fell in love looking down from the world of

gnosis,

I saw the things we read and heard were all void.

Translated by Mevlut Ceylan

posted 29 June 2005