the alphabet (_quatrain_ 101) are metamorphoses of men. And
Magaira, who founded a sect, maintained that the letters of the
alphabet are like limbs of God. According to him, when God wished
to create the world, He wrote with His own hands the deeds of
men, both the good and the bad; but, at sight of the sins which
men were going to commit, He entered into such a fury that He
sweated, and from His sweat two seas were formed, the one of salt
water and the other of sweet water. From the first one the
infidels were formed, and from the second the Shi'ites. But to
this view of the everlasting question you may possibly prefer
what is advanced (_quatrains_ 103-7) and paraphrased as an
episode: Whatever be the wisdom of the worms, we bow before the
silence of the rose. As for Abu'l-Ala, we leave him now
prostrated (_quatrain_ 108) before the silence of the rolling
world. It is a splendour that was seen by Alfred de Vigny:

Je roule avec dédain, sans voir et sans entendre,
A côté des fourmis les populations;
Je ne distingue pas leur terrier de leur cendre.
J'ignore en les portant les noms des nations.
On me dit une mère et je suis une tombe.
Mon hiver prend vos morts comme son hécatombe,
Mon printemps n'entend pas vos adorations.

Avant vous j'étais belle et toujours parfumée,
J'abandonnais au vent mes cheveux tout entiers. . . .



Footnotes