Death Before Dying

[sub_divided]

...is a collection of Sufi poetry by Sultan Bahu, composed in Punjabi. I don't have a mystic bone in my body but I still found these pretty interesting. The metaphors were novel and there were a lot of puns. Also the structure's a little different, lines don't necessarily follow from the lines that came before them. Anyway as I was reading I noticed that some of these lines would make pretty good writing prompts. In fact they're almost better as points of departure than as lines of devotional poetry...okay maybe not, but I thought: it's amazing how well these work out of context, how many images they generate, how easily they bring about contemplation, etc.

Then I realized. Sufi poetry. Bringing about contemplation is sort of the point? If you've been feeling that there aren't enough writing prompts in your life (though Bob knows why, with places like 31_days around), you can use these.

• A blackened face is better than a blackened heart
  
• A friend for one breath and an enemy for one hundred thousand
  
• Arabian horses cannot be hidden beneath threadbare saddles
  
• Arise and shine bright, moon! The stars are engaged in your recollection.
  
• Be steel, be beaten, only then will you be called a sword
  
• Half the curses on the world, and all of them on the worldly
  
• I have no souveneirs of Bagdad except wounds, long and deep
  
• Love saw me weak and it launched a raid
  
• Not a bit of sleep comes at night and amazement lasts all day
  
• On a dark, black night, love lights a lamp
  
• The pure will never be impure, even if they live in filth
  
• The rosary spun but the heart did not spin, what's the point of holding a rosary?
  
• They study nothing but make students of others
  
• "Whoever is heedless for an instant is a disbeliever in that instant"
  
• If there were not so many sins in me, whom would you absolve?
  
• I wander lovestruck; the blind laugh at me

...there are also some pretty emo lines. For example:

I cried tears of blood on this path, but for others it was all a joke
and
Pulling the strap of heartache, they add the sparkling water of sorrow
and
Taking a knife to their hearts and souls they cook kebabs/They wander in amazement all the time and drink blood from their spleens

But my favorite poem is this one:

I am ugly and my Beloved is beautiful - how can I be agreeable to Him?
He never enters my home though I use a hundred thousand ruses.
Neither am I beautiful nor have I wealth to display - how can I please my Friend?
This pain shall remain forever, I shall die crying.

LOL the poet is a woman hoping God will notice her.


Linkblogging!
1. Totally awesome customization tutorial for Flexible Squares @ theljreboot.
2. threadless.com livejournal icons: one, two.
3. Bittorrent to offer pay-per movie downloads. To set themselves apart from iTunes, they're focusing on subtitling unknown Chinese and Indian films.

Ka, I can't write Jojo fanfic. Everything I write is really serious (unless it's something I meant to be serious, but couldn't take seriously -- then it's just cracked.) EDIT: read the comments.