"My lady, you are absolutely correct in your observations, even though there may be times when the quest falls short…"
"God has provided me with a special sense, one that guides me toward what is proper and away from what is wicked. It allows me to recognize virtue and piety through their very scent and qualities."
"May God grant you pleasure in what He has given you, and protect you in this world from all that is cheap and nasty."
With that the woman raised her hands in the air. "Dear God," she intoned, "accept the prayer of this holy man and do not frustrate his aspirations and hopes."
The old man sat there like someone who has swallowed his tongue. He was listening to my conversation with our hostess and sipping a glass of milk. Every so often he sent negative signals back to the servant who was still suggesting that he follow him outside the house. Once I noticed that the situation was getting bad, I asked the lady of the house's permission to depart. Astute as she undoubtedly was, she realized the situation and stood up to escort us to the door, having obtained our solemn promise to include her in our private prayers.
As we made our way through the halls and alcoves, I was walking alongside this stunning woman; we were both behind the old man from Meknes. He kept leaning heavily on the arm of the servant, who was constantly warning him to look straight ahead in case he stumbled. We meanwhile walked slowly, touching and moving toward each other. Out of the corner of my eye I could see her ample breasts pointing in my direction and could breathe in the scented breeze of her presence. My senses were completely bedazzled; they wanted nothing more than for this walk to go on forever. Once we reached the outside door, she placed her hand in mine to say farewell. "This house is your house, thou Lord of the people," she whispered in my ear.
"Tomorrow, dear Sir," she said, addressing my companion, "you will receive a gift from me."
He thanked her profusely and, looking straight at me, prayed that she would soon find an honorable husband. She smiled, and the servant chimed in with "Amen."
My companion now grabbed me by the sleeve in order to hurry me away. Once we were a distance from the house, I asked him why he had stayed so silent in the presence of the lady.
"This is a remarkable day," he said, pausing to catch his breath, "one that I'll never forget as long as I live. I'm normally a chatterbox, but that lady's beauty was enough to strike me dumb. God's truth, she put a clamp on my tongue. But, as far as you're concerned, the entire thing is crystal clear, as clear as the day is long. We Meknes folk know a good thing when we see it-as we say, when someone from Meknes treads on a raisin, he can smell how good it is. Even if I were blind, I would still be able to smell it and feel it."
"Smell and feel what precisely, 0 holy man of God?" I asked with a laugh.
"Even though not much was said," he went on, "I could get the gist of everything and more, even though that rogue of a servant kept trying to put me off. The devil treated me badly, and I'd like to give him a cuff or two at some point."
I smiled in delight.
"God knows, if only I were the same age as you are, I'd be in there with you, fighting for her with every means possible, come hell or high water. But since I'm old and decrepit, I simply say to you, `May God bring it all to pass!"'
"But you were the one she promised a gift to, not me.. 11
"So now you're using your age superiority to mock me! She's going to give me a gift, but she's a gift for you, all of her! You lucky so-and-so! You must have been born in white togs, bringing your parents a great boon."
When we reached the city plain close to the shore, the sun was turning red on the sea surface as it prepared to set. The old man leaned over to me.
"The only way to purify yourself now," he whispered in my ear, "is to take a swim, then return to your beloved duly cleansed. You need to ask her for your basket, which you left at her place, or whatever you decide to do. From now on and with God's good graces, I'm going to return to my residence. Once there I can contemplate the delights of that remarkable session we had."
The old man was entirely correct: I certainly was dirty and needed a wash; and I had forgotten-or maybe pretended to forget-my basket. But when it came to his advice that I go straight back to the house of the lady who had so entranced me, it seemed like a good idea to postpone it until a day when my mind felt more stable and my emotions were better under control. In anticipation of such a day I had such feelings of delight and pleasure that they almost resembled what I would feel if I ran across my missing manuscript. The happiness I was feeling had taken wing and was flying free; no mystic divine or philosopher before me had ever experienced anything like it. Words fail me; metaphor, simile, and other devices all pale in its context. No poet, whether Spanish, Syrian, or Iraqi, came to my aid. If the Spaniards were to provide me with such feelings now, I would be able to use the sheer intensity of my feelings to reconstruct entire lost cities and fortresses; it would be greater than the deeds of Hercules himself and his defeat of the lion.
In my paeans of joy today my only rival is Archimedes on the day he discovered the law of floating bodies and yelled "Eureka! Eureka!" Mounted now on the steed of overwhelming love in heavenly flight, I too can tell myself, "I have found her, I have found her!"
Beside the sacred enclosure in Mecca itself she is my ultimate focus!
After God Almighty she is my sweetest and most attractive pole!
She is someone who makes you more beautiful and intelligent merely by consorting with her.
She is the very symbol of my felicity and my ongoing struggle, as I set my sights toward the One toward whom noble souls longingly strive, gather together, and return.
The sheer wonder of her name is such that I have neglected to ask it, but it surely shares in the qualities of God's beautiful names.
So come, let me swim in a sea where the liberated lover such as me faces no danger!
Come to the sea whose surface has now been warmed by the setting sun, extending through its dying rays both warmth and farewells.
I made my way to a deserted section of beach, took off my clothes, and used my turban as a loincloth. I waded in with cries of praise and thanksgiving and headed fearlessly into deeper water. Once there I sometimes swam on the top and at other times allowed the waters to embrace and cover me. I had the impression that the very fishes and underwater plants were all extending their particular greetings to me, and I responded fulsomely. I found myself dancing and clapping in the waves, and told myself and the waters all around me that the serenity of the sea here is so vast and wonderful, and the sheer intoxication of swimming in these waters has its own sense and piety attached to it.
My father-God have mercy on him! — had taught me how to swim, and he had done it very well. He told me that it was a very useful skill. "An islander who can't swim," he had told me, "is like an inhabitant of heaven who's never happy!" The very fact that I was swimming in the sea in a state of joyous harmony and sweet delirium was entirely due to the woman whom I termed my very blood when I opened up my heart to the wonders of existence. For the Divine Transcendent I became both attribute and sign.
So there I was using all my limbs and swimming in the name of the One who made every living thing from water. Once I was tired out, I lay on my back motionless and let the waves do with me what they willed, rocking me like a loving mother, swaying and tilting to and fro, spreading all round me a dreamlike atmosphere that was replete with a calm intensity. From time to time I closed my eyes. Every time I opened them, it was to find evening gradually lowering its curtain on the world and spreading everywhere. Then, all of a sudden and with no warning, a flood of water lifted me up high and then plunged me into the midst of a maelstrom, swamping me from all sides.