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216 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1928
طوبى لهؤلاء الذين صفت أرواحهم وطوبى للذين لايبيتون أسرى مايملكون
لأنهم سوف يضحون أحرارا
وطوبى لمن يذكرون أتراحهم
وفى أتراحهم يرقبون أفراحهم
وطوبى للذين يتضورون جوعا ينشدون الحق والجمال
فسيكون لهم من جوعهم الخبز الذى يأكلون
ومن ظمئهم الماء القراح الذى يشربون
وطوبى لذوى الكرم والحلم
لهم من كرمهم وحلمهم خير عزاء وسلوى
وطوبى للذين قد طهرت قلوبهم
لأنهم لن يكونوا بعيدا من الله
وطوبى للرحماء لأن الرحمة ستكون جزاءهم
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عندما تريد الصلاة دع شوقك يمل عليك كلماتك وإن شوقى الآن ليملى علي أن أضرع قائلا
رب العالمين رب السماوات والأرضين
تقدست أسماؤك
لتكن مشيئتك فينا كما كانت دائما
وارزقنا من خبزك كفاء يومنا
واغفر لنا برحمتك
وامنحنا القدرة على أن يعفو بعضنا عن بعض
واهدنا صراطك
وامدد لنا يدك فى الظلمات
لك الملك
وبك القوة
وبك بلوغ القصد
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لقد أحصى الله الطير فى السماء وعدها كما عدَ شعرات رؤوسكم
مامن طير يسقط عند اقدام الرامى
وما من شعرة فى رؤوسكم تستحيل شهباء أو تسقط فى مدارج العمر إلا بإرادته
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قد يسعى المخطئون إلى دوركم
فلتحرصوا على أن تفتحوا لهم الأبواب
وأن تأذنوا لهم بالجلوس إلى موائدكم
فإن لم تلقوهم فلن تكونوا أبدا أبرياء مما قد آقترفوا
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لا تناهضوا الشر
فإن مناهضة الشر غذاء له يهيجه ويذكيه
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مملكتي ليست من هذه الارض
ومجلسي لم يبنَ على جماجم أسلافكم
__________________________
حين نظر إليّ
أشرقت ظهيرة عينيه على روحي
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وبعد ذلك
صارت جميع أثمار الحياة التي لاطعم لها لذيذة في فمي
والورود التي لاعطر لها صارت منبعاً للعطر الجميل
For mind you, my friend, I was dead. I was a woman who had divorced her soul. I was living apart from this self which you now see. I belonged to all men, and to none. They called me harlot, and a woman possessed of seven devils. I was cursed, and I was envied.
But when His dawn-eyes looked into my eyes all the stars of my night faded away, and I became Miriam, only Miriam, a woman lost to the earth she had known, and finding herself in new places.
And now again I said to Him, “Come into my house and share bread and wine with me.”
And He said, “Why do you bid me to be your guest?”
And I said, “I beg you to come into my house.” And it was all that was sod in me, and all that was sky in me calling unto Him.
Then He looked at me, and the noontide of His eyes was upon me, and He said, “You have many lovers, and yet I alone love you. Other men love themselves in your nearness. I love you in your self. Other men see a beauty in you that shall fade away sooner than their own years. But I see in you a beauty that shall not fade away, and in the autumn of your days that beauty shall not be afraid to gaze at itself in the mirror, and it shall not be offended.
“I alone love the unseen in you.”
Then He said in a low voice, “Go away now. If this cypress tree is yours and you would not have me sit in its shadow, I will walk my way.”
And I cried to Him and I said, “Master, come to my house. I have incense to burn for you, and a silver basin for your feet. You are a stranger and yet not a stranger. I entreat you, come to my house.”
Then He stood up and looked at me even as the seasons might look down upon the field, and He smiled. And He said again: “All men love you for themselves. I love you for yourself.”
And then He walked away.
But no other man ever walked the way He walked. Was it a breath born in my garden that moved to the east? Or was it a storm that would shake all things to their foundations?
I knew not, but on that day the sunset of His eyes slew the dragon in me, and I became a woman, I became Miriam, Miriam of Mijdel.