Sufi Poem by Leo Yankevich

'Mansur Al-Hallaj, having heard of Christ the martyr,
came to Baghdad whirling on his feet, and forgave the Caliph
and his officials even before they did anything to him.'

Yet for this kind of love they chopped
his left foot off and broke his leg,
for knowledge such as this they lopped
his right hand off, and left a peg
of shattered bone to greet the ghost
of martyrdom inside his prayer,
then pinned him bat-like to a post,
inverted, so his scrotum, bare
to all, hung over his limp prick,
within the gloom and glow of light,
before they poked him with their stick
on what was his last living night.
And then they gathered round like curs
as he whirled through the universe.