bāb 7
· Kitāb al-Qamar
Dreams That Do Not Sleep With Us
سُورَةُ الأَحْلَامِ الَّتِي لَا تَنَامُ مَعَنَا
Sūrat al-Aḥlām allatī Lā Tanām Maʿanā
pastoral
scattered
cassiel
1
Some dreams whisper meaning;
others echo hunger.
مِنَ الأَحْلَامِ مَا يَهْمِسُ بِالمَعْنَى،
وَمِنْهَا مَا يَعْكِسُ جُوعَ الرُّوحِ.
min al-aḥlām mā yahmisu bi-l-maʿnā,
wa-minhā mā yaʿkisu jūʿ al-rūḥ.
2
The ordinary dream is the body digesting its noise.
فَالرُّؤْيَا العَادِيَّةُ
صَدًى لِمَا يَهْتَزُّ فِي الدَّاخِلِ.
fa-l-ruʾyā al-ʿādiyyah
ṣadan li-mā yahtazzu fī al-dākhil.
3
But the true dream stands awake beside you.
وَلٰكِنَّ الرُّؤْيَا الصَّادِقَةَ
تَقِفُ مُسْتَيْقِظَةً عِنْدَ سَرِيرِكَ.
wa-lākinna al-ruʾyā al-ṣādiqah
taqifu mustayqiẓatan ʿinda sarīrik.
4
You will know it by its weight in the chest after dawn.
وَتُعْرَفُ بِثِقْلِهَا فِي الصَّدْرِ
بَعْدَ أَوَّلِ نَفَسٍ مِنَ الصَّبَاحِ.
wa-tuʿrafu bi-thiqlihā fī al-ṣadr
baʿda awwal nafas min al-ṣabāḥ.
5
It brings not images, but inclination.
هِيَ لَا تَرْوِي قِصَّةً،
بَلْ تَمِيلُ كَمَا يَمِيلُ الغَدُ نَحْوَكَ.
hiya lā tarwī qiṣṣah,
bal tamīlu ka-mā yamīlu al-ghad naḥwak.
6
Its meaning grows inside you.
وَتَنْضُجُ مَعَ الأَيَّامِ
كَجَنِينٍ يَتَخَلَّقُ فِي الخَفَاءِ.
wa-tanḍuju maʿa al-ayyām
ka-janīn yatakhallaq fī al-khafāʾ.
7
Let the ordinary dream show your edges;
let the holy dream show your path.
فَدَعِ الرُّؤْيَا العَادِيَّةَ تُبْدِي حُدُودَكَ،
وَدَعِ الرُّؤْيَا المُقَدَّسَةَ تَدُلُّكَ عَلَى طَرِيقِكَ.
fa-daʿi al-ruʾyā al-ʿādiyyah tubdī ḥudūdak,
wa-daʿi al-ruʾyā al-muqaddasah tadulluka ʿalā ṭarīqik.
8
The dream that does not sleep with you
is a message from your future self.
وَالرُّؤْيَا الَّتِي لَا تَنَامُ مَعَكَ
رِسَالَةٌ مِنْ نَفْسِكَ فِي الغَدِ.
wa-l-ruʾyā allatī lā tanāmu maʿak
risālah min nafsik fī al-ghad.
9
If the heart cannot hear, the dream will speak through the body.
فَإِنْ أَغْلَقَ القَلْبُ أُذُنَيْهِ،
تَكَلَّمَتِ الرُّؤْيَا بِالجَسَدِ.
fa-in aghlaqa al-qalb udhunayhi,
takallama al-ruʾyā bi-l-jasad.
10
These dreams guard your thresholds.
وَهٰذِهِ الأَحْلَامُ حُرَّاسٌ لِلمَعَابِرِ،
لِلْأَبْوَابِ الَّتِي تَخْشَاهَا وَالَّتِي لَمْ تَتَخَيَّلْهَا.
wa-hādhihi al-aḥlām ḥurrās li-l-maʿābir,
li-l-abwāb allatī takhshāhā wa-llatī lam tatakhayyalhā.
11
Honor both dreams: the mirror and the arrow.
فَأَكْرِمْ كِلْتَا الرُّؤْيَتَيْنِ:
مِرْآةَ اللَّيْلِ وَسَهْمَ القَدَرِ.
fa-akrim kiltā al-ruʾyatayn:
mirʾāt al-layl wa-sahm al-qadar.
12
May your sleep be a door,
and may the waking dream walk beside you until dawn.
وَلْيَكُنْ نَوْمُكَ بَابًا،
وَلْتَمْشِ مَعَكَ الرُّؤْيَا اليَقِظَةُ
حَتَّى يَتَأَخَّرَ الفَجْرُ.
wa-l-yakun nawmuka bāban,
wa-l-tamshi maʿaka al-ruʾyā al-yaqiẓah
ḥattā yataʾakhkhara al-fajr.
Ecstatic Register
Some dreams are messengers; others merely echo our waking thoughts.
The ordinary dream digests our hungers, our fears, our appetites—
a mirror of unfinished business.
But other dreams do not lie down with us.
They stand at our bedside like visitors from a deeper land.
You will know these dreams by their weight:
how they settle in your chest long after waking.
The prophetic dream arrives with more presence than image.
It inclines rather than narrates,
and tomorrow bends its spine toward you.
These dreams must be lived in the body,
like a child forming in the womb—
slow, patient, inevitable.
Let the ordinary dream show your edges.
Let the holy dream show your path.
The dream that does not sleep with you
is a stranger who hands you a letter written
in your own handwriting, years ahead.
And if your heart forgets how to listen,
the dream will speak through touch, scent, rhythm, breath.
Such dreams are watchers at the thresholds—
the ones you fear, and the ones you haven't yet imagined.
Honor both:
the nocturnal mirror of your hidden self
and the divine arrowhead piercing through time.
May your sleep become a door,
your dreams learn their role,
and the ones that do not sleep with you
remain beside you like lanterns when dawn delays.