Saint Julian Press Poet

Fred LaMotte - Author and Poet

 

WHAT BOTH NAMES MEAN

 

You are Rahman, I Raheem.
You are the heartbeat, I the pause.
One creates, the other created.

Anybody claiming to know which is which
is more confused than the pollen
of a thousand flowers
in a drop of honey.

All
we are permitted to know
is that God's name and our name
both mean 'thank you.'

There is a secret bowing
in the hollow of the heart,
throat, cell, and atom.

Everything is filled with longing
and pulsation.

 

 

معنى الاسمين

 

أنتِ الرحمن، أنا الرحيم.

أنتِ دقات القلب، أنا الصمت بينها.

أحدنا يَخلق، الآخر يُخلق.

 

من ادّعى أنه يعرف التمييز بين الواحد والآخر منا

لَـهْو أشد ارتباكاً في معرفة أصله

من رحيق آلاف الأزهار

في قطرة عسل.

 

كل

ما تحقّ لنا معرفته

هو أن اسم الله واسمنا،

اثنيهما، يعنيان الشكر.

 

هناك سجود سريّ

في جوف قلوبنا،

وحناجرنا، وخلايانا، وذراتنا.

 

كل شيء فينا مليء بالتوق،

وبالنبض.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fred LaMotte

Copyright 2012

 

Translated into Arabic by Dana Chamseddine

Fred LaMotte is an interfaith college chaplain at The Evergreen State College in Olympia WA, as well as an adjunct instructor in World Religions, teaching college courses through distance learning program for deployed military personal. Fred is a Quaker. He has degrees from Yale University and Princeton Theological Seminary.