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HAZRAT AMIR KHUSRAU OF DELHI
flow in the mere sound of them—that is found in Hafiz but, perhaps, not in any other Persian poet. If there was not a shred of sense and meaning in the words of Khusrau's finest lines, their rhythm and sound alone would suffice to make them immortal. He is the favourite poet of the mystic singers {qawwals) who have loved to set his lines to music, and advanced mystics have often fainted and yielded up the ghost at their recitation. In him, for the first (though not for the last) time, Persian poetry reaches its high-water mark—the sustained ghazal. Translation w i l l give no idea of the rhythm and beauty of the original:— I (15)
O thou, beyond all comprehension How can my thoughts e'er reach to Thee? Or my vain intellect understand Thy attribute or quality? And over the great creation stands The spaceless pillar of Thy might. My soul, a feeble, wingless bird, How shall it climb that endless height? A thousand martyrs like Hussain Have perished in the endless strife, Yet human lips have never touched Thy water of eternal life. (15) Kulliyat, published by Newal Kishore Press: At zi khiyal ma birun bar tu khiyal kai rasad.