The Prison of God

They say that ignorance is the prison of God,
and knowledge can break it.
They say that the wine cup is filled with sin,
shatter it in hand despite the cuts.
But neither heart nor soul accepted that,
while my intellect and mind did.
Why? For its the teaching of the saint,
and whoso am I to question his teachings?

I listened, and I longed for the light outside,
I tried moving out of this prison, but I faltered
for the bars did not bend, and light did not seep.
and I tried breaking the wine cup in my hand while
the saint and my mind encouraged me 'well done
you are closer'. I made a trade that day.
My soul and heart forsook me.
No... that day, I forsook them.

So I questioned the saint,
my intellect and what I was taught,
the scriptures in mind, of the saint, not of God.
I realized I hadn't stepped out of the prison,
which I did, I once thought.
The bars had not melted or broken, they were not iron
nor steel, nor diamond, nor brass.
The wine cup hadn't shattered, 
it wasn't of wood nor glass.

The 'freedom' was a mere illusion; the prison never ended,
and outside it was God alone with light and wisdom,
None other, no one wit him, but God alone.
I saw through that day, I saw through the light,
and I saw the eyes of God show me the truth,
but I didn't see any light nor eye.

The saint scorned me when I brought this up,
he told me to break the cup I held.
I didn't break it that day,
I gulped it in, in one go.
I was banished from the mosque of God,
in the wilderness, my heart and soul returned.

The Eyes taught me that the prison cannot be escaped,
not by man nor angel, for they are lowly.
The cup shan't be broken,
it's wine is not of grapes and intoxication is too much.
The bars will not melt, but they shall melt within
and the mind shan't get drunk, but the heart will.
I stood up that day of intellect and reason,
I stepped into the divine light of love. 
God, the Beloved, didn't break the bars nor glass,
then why should I?

Ignorance is the prison of God,
but that prison is not for the sinner;
in it not am I, for I have drunk
The prison encased the saint.
The wine cup is filled with sin,
but it doesn't merely intoxicate,
and its intoxication is not of drunkenness,
it is the wine of Abraham and Moses,
it returns the soul to the heart;
the mind has bowed down to love.

Why should I escape the bars
and break the cup
because the saint said so.
In fact, he doesn't know 
what's inside the cup,
and the prison of God. 

But I will admit,
I did break free that day, I also broke the cup.
I broke free of the prison of the saint,
and broke the cup of ignorance.
I showered myself with the light outside the bars,
it stripped me of the robes of the mosque,
and clothed me with those of paradise.
They were none but the same.
I bathed in the wine of knowledge,
and paradise and the Beloved's presence:
it was but one.

I moved on and found the what I yearned for,
God was no longer for me punishment and a capturer,
He became and always was the Beloved 
and the one who loves.
I saw the saint continue his actions,
a hundred of his prostrations were but one-
one of my steps towards the mosque.
I didn't enter the mosque of the saint that day,
I found my own mosque in the heart,
and in it was no saint, asking me to break free
for I was always and now too free,
of ignorance. The prison had broken, the cup had vanished,
the saint had faded away.

It was none but me and the Beloved,
clothed in His infinite light and love,
the cage and cup was still there,,
but the bars and wine had melted.
I left the prison and I still am in it,
the saint still treads behind.