Introduction to Sufi Poetry

Poetry as such, cuts, polishes and transforms stone-like words into diamonds. Scattered words are united by the magic of awe and surprise to form a dance-like reality that flows rhythmically in unison. An unseen emotionally charged beautiful world is materialized out of nowhere; spring arrives and flowers start showering. A simple idea through the profoundness of poetry becomes multi-dimensional that touches every sensitive soul to its core. It is really interesting to experience numerous shades and hues born out of a single verse creating a deep impact like that of sitting near a silent lake watching the sunset with an unfolding  symphony of diverse colours on the horizon. A poet may touch any dimension of life with his creative sword of truth depending on his environment and vision. However, there are poets who have universal appeal. Their poetry cannot be confined to a particular time frame or group of people; rather it has a quality of timelessness. A human being of any era can find elixir in it.

Sufi poetry falls into the later group. A Sufi, like a rose, blooms on the face of the earth with an inner beauty and a spiritual fragrance. He celebrates his own being, whether he is in a forest or in a city, east or the west – a rose is a rose - is a rose. A rose blooms silently and disappears silently and, in between, it expresses itself through the metaphor of silence. Beauty in any form can never be truly expressed through words. The words are impotent in many such ways and only serve a utilitarian purpose to survive in the material world where sun is just a ‘sun’ without warmth and light. As one moves away from the gross presence of material world towards the realm of subtle presence, he again and again feels the futility of words. When one discovers the depth of love, words appear extremely shallow and helpless. In such a state, a song may happen or poetry is born, but a speech will be a lie. In the same light, a Sufi poetry is expressed in words but reflects an echo of the silence and music of a realm beyond words which touches the soul in such a way that an ever-chattering mind gets silenced by its charm and tastes something of the beyond. Such poetry carries the fragrance of an inner world of a Sufi, which blooms here and now.