Gabriel and Lucifer

 

Rhyme and Reason

Tr. by Asif Iftikhar

 

Gabriel:  O Friend of Yore! How the World of Death ‘n Life?

Lucifer:  In woe ‘n muse, pain ‘n smear, desire ‘n strife

 

Gabriel:  Of thee, talk in Heaven all the time

 Canst thou ever repent thy crime?

 

Lucifer:Ah but Gabriel! Secret ‘tis, thou dost not know

               In shattering me cup, my inebriety Lo!

 

I cannot live now where but joy doth dwell

Its peaceful silence doth me repel!

 

In whose torment the lure of strife

Should he hope for doom or life?

 

Gabriel:  High stations lost thou with denial lame

               For thee were angels in such shame

 

Lucifer:  By panache mine, ‘tis handful dust alive!

   By trial mine, doth the mind strive!

 

In battle good ‘n evil, from the shore ye see

Whom doth the storm strike, thee or me?

 

Leaders, guides, their hands but tied

In storms mine, riseth every tide!

 

Ask thy Lord, if free thou ever of thy song

By whose blood doth Adam’s tale go on?

 

Aye, perturb I did the Heart of God!

Thou but: “O my Lord, O my Lord!”