XXIII. The Second Prayer of Hasanyah

To my heart.

Tell, O heart, heaving Ocean,
How sin entered, and the waters
Of the world it stained and sullied.

By what door did Orkon’s malice
Enter into Treian kingdoms
When the cities Lanenomen
Founded, stood upon the mountains?

You, O heart, you were the traitor—
You it was who ceased your vigil,
Ceased the watch upon the harbor
Where the ships of thought go sailing.

Two things there are that lead to sorrow—
Two keys that open guarded portals,
Laying bare the unwatched city:

First is baseless self-delusion;
Like a tarnished, unwashed mirror,
So it clouds the native reason.
So the heart is self-deceiving,
So believes it sees things truly—
So the second, Pride, arises.

I saw a maiden by the water,
Standing by the murky waters.
There she saw the moon’s reflection
Dimly shining on the waters.
She leapt upon it, fingers grasping—
Thinking that she could possess it.
That maid was drowned in murky waters
While above the moon’s pale glimmer
Still cast down his dim reflection.

I saw a child who had fallen
Down a well, dry and barren.
A rope was hanging, his salvation,
Down the well where he had fallen.
Instead of rope, he saw a serpent.
Instead of wind, he heard it hissing.
The wind was blowing o’er the well-mouth,
Moving rope. The child perished.

I saw dog beside the waters,
Murky waters of the woodland.
Dim he saw there his reflection,
Barked and growled while many robbers
Passed him by, and slew his Master.

Come to me, O First Unfounded.
Take from me this self-delusion,
And the pride which quickly follows
When I seem to see things truly.
Not in seeming, but in being,
May I truly know your ways.