[About twenty-five years ago on Yûşa Tepesi (Mount Joshua) above the Istanbul Bosphorus, at a time I had decided to give up the world, a number of important friends came to me in order to call me back to the world and my former position. I told them to leave me till the following morning so that I might seek guidance. That morning the following two tables were imparted to my heart. They resemble poetry, but they are not. For the sake of that blessed memory I have not changed them; they have been preserved as they occurred to me. They were appended to the Twenty-Third Word, but have now been included here on account of their station.]

The First Table

THE FIRST TABLE

The table depicting the reality of the world of the heedless.

Don’t call me to the world; – I came and saw it was transitory.

Heedlessness was a veil; – I saw the light of truth was concealed.

All the beings in existence, – I saw were ephemeral, harmful.

If you say, being, I dressed in it; – Alas! It was non-being; I sufferedmuch!

If you say, life, I tasted it; – I saw it was torment upon torment.

The mind became pure torture; – I saw permanence to be tribulation.

Life became pure whim; – I saw attainment to be pure loss.

Deeds became pure hypocrisy; – I saw hopes to be pure pain.

Union became parting itself; – I saw the cure to be the ill.

These lights became darkness; – I saw these friends to be orphans.

These voices became announcements – I saw the living to be dead of death;

Knowledge was transformed into fancy; – I saw in science a thousand ailments.

Pleasure became pure pain; – I saw existence to be compounded non-existence.

If you say the Beloved, I found him; – Alas! On separation I suffered grievous pain.