Across the River: On the Poetry of Mak Dizdar

A. The Poet

A. The Poet Although prophecy may resemble poetry and the Prophet be accused of being a poet,1 the similarity is accompanied by an essential difference . Poets may speak in their own language while yet being in a relationship with God, or the Holy Spirit may descend upon them. But this, too, is their speech. But when a prophet conveys the Revelation, it is the Divine speech in human language, as God says: ‘‘We have not taught him poetry; it is not seemly for him. It is only a Remembrance and a Clear Recitation, that he may warn whosoever is living, and that the Word may be realized against the idolaters.’’2 In poetry and its sister form, song (in Bosnian, the word pjesma covers both), rhythm, rhyme, and melody take precedence over the message, over remembrance and recitation, as a warning to the living. In the Revelation it is the other way around: Remembrance, Recitation , and warning take precedence over rhyme, rhythm, and melody, for the Word descends into the language of the Prophet. When poets speak to the accompaniment of the descent of the Holy Spirit into their language, it is their reception of the Word out of all the multitude of its manifestations in the world and in humankind. God says of the difference between the poet and the Messenger: ‘‘No! I swear by that 208 / Annexes you see and by that you do not see, it is the speech of a noble Messenger . It is not the speech of a poet (little do you believe).’’3 Both poets and prophets have their own utterance which transcends their will. In the case of poets, this outward depth or height may be attained through the Holy Spirit but also through things that belong to different levels of existence, such as jinns, for instance. Poets may speak from being engrossed by them or from being possessed. A prophet, on the other hand, can never convey what God has revealed to him to the accompaniment of any interference, regardless of how great the efforts of those who would conceal or divert the prophet ’s direction toward the Principle. He is the Prophet of God and remains so despite the hostility his revelations encounter, as God says: So We have appointed to every Prophet an enemy—Satans of men and jinn, revealing tawdry speech to each other, all as a delusion; yet, had thy Lord willed, they would never have done it. So leave them to their forging, and that the hearts of those who believe not in the world to come may incline to it, and that they may be well-pleased with it, and that they may gain what they are gaining.4 This impetus to speech grounded in one or other level of existence —be it in the outer or the inner realm—rather than in the Creator appears to be a challenge to the Revelation, although the two are similar and yet essentially different manifestations in human language. God says of this: We sent not ever any Messenger or Prophet before thee, but that Satan cast into his fancy, when he was fancying; but God annuls what Satan casts, then God confirms His signs—surely God is All-knowing, All-wise—that He may make what Satan casts a trial for those in whose hearts is sickness, and those whose hearts are hard; and surely the evildoers are in wide schism.5 Since the Prophet makes known the Principle and the path leading to it, opposition to his message takes the form of his being accused of being possessed.6 If the source of what he says is anything other than The Poet / 209 the Truth, the duty owed to Remembrance, Recitation, and warning by those who oppose him would be abolished. The individual response to God’s call through His Prophet of all of us who are adamant in our association with a god other than God is invariably shaped, therefore, by a rejection of Truth as the source of the Revelation. God says of Pharaoh as an example of this: ‘‘But he turned his back, with his court, saying, ‘A sorcerer, or a man possessed!’’’7 God’s response to this accusation is: ‘‘Therefore remind! by thy Lord’s blessing thou art not a soothsayer neither possessed.’’8 A prophet is always facing Truth, which chooses him, and he submits to It...