Beyond Creation

I remember well the time before the Nile flowed through the deserts of Egypt,
Before the hills of Safa and Marwa ever stood on the plains of Hijaz,
Before the heavens rose to cage this desolate earth,
Before life ever took its first breath in the midst of the cosmos.

I remember all there was in the midst of nothing, the Glorious face of the Beloved,
When I and all others flew as particles of dust and nothing.
I saw from the very hands of the Beloved as the universe sprung up,
I saw His eyes of mercy eye His creation one by one,
Yet I remember no such hand nor eye.

I remember when the angels praised and glorified the Beloved, and He rose above behind a veil of no sight,
How the earth and heavens lost their light that day, but yet there was light,
How the cosmos of time turned dark, yet there was no darkness,
And above all that the throne of the Beloved shook, seating Great Might.
I remember when poured for me was the wine of blankness, how I seemed as if I was a million Is.

I remember when the Beloved created that time which caged the cosmos,
When He created the life which dangled over the void of eternal darkness.
How the universe rose above an eternal hole,
And I looked at it, knowing that was the hole of beginning and end,
And how my Beloved looked at it, for Him the whole of no end.