The Beauty of Layla’s Face
Seyyed Hossein Nasr
O Layla, o beauty of the Night, more luminous than a
thousand suns,
Dark because of Thy radiance.
We were born to behold the Beauty of Thy Face,
We were born to hear the Beauty of Thy Voice.
Thou art the Essence, darkness shining as the desert
sun at noon,
Thy Beauty is in all creatures reflected here below.
In the face of a fair maiden and the flight of a flock
of birds,
In the azure sky and the roaring sea,
In the mane of the mighty lion and the hues of the
lovely sea urchin.
I hear the Beauty of Thy Voice in the siren song of
the whale,
As well in the chant of the nightingale in the garden,
Hymning Thy Praise in her morning concert.
Above all I behold Thy Beauty in the sanctified soul from
Thy true lovers,
Beholden to Thy Love, basking in Thy Radiance.
O lovers of Layla, let us remain forever open to
beauty,
Let us keep the window of the soul open to that cool
breeze,
Flowing from the horizons beyond to bring us the
message of our Beloved.
Let us keep our inner ears open to that celestial music,
To the song of the wings of Gabriel which is the root
of our very being.
Let us cling to all beauty which a reflection of Her
Beauty is.
O Layla, the goal of all my life is to experience Thy
Embrace,
To become drowned in the ocean of Thy Beauty in the
eternal now,
To become immersed in that Beauty which is also peace,
Peace, calm, harmony, away from all dispersion, from
the world’s din,
And yet peace which is also ardent love that burns and
consumes.
O Layla, Thy Beauty is both light that frees and love
that immolates,
The Reality that both illuminates and pacifies,
Bringing a peace that is also supreme ecstasy.
All joys we experience here belos and can experience from
that Beauty come.
O friends of the Path, let us then never forget why we
were born.
Into this world we were brought to behold the Beauty
of Layla’s Face,
To see that Beauty in all that beautiful is,
To hear the Beauty of Her Voice in the hymning of Her
Praise,
By all creatures whose very existence is their chant
in prayer,
Offered to the Beauty of Layla,
the Light of whose countenance is the inner reality of
all beings.
Let us, o friends, remain true to ourselves, to our
true nature,
And behold always the Beauty of Layla’s Face, knocking
at Her door,
Until we are granted intimacy and are received in Her
Embrace.
