Then we ascended to the second heaven. A voice asked, ‘Who is it?’ Jibreel said, ‘Jibreel.’ Then the voice said,  ‘Who is with you?’ He said, ‘Muhammad’ Then came the voice again, , ‘Has he been sent for?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ It was said, ‘He is welcomed. What a wonderful visit is this!” Then I met Isa  and Yahya who said, ‘You are welcomed, O brother and a Prophet.’ Sahih al-Bukhari, volume 4,Book 54, Hadith number 429

He rises and begins to round, / He drops the silver chain of sound (Meredith) 

Omnia vincit Amor: et nos cedamus Amori.” (Vergil, Eclogue 10)

Lailat al Mi’raj

 y  arms about you
we rise like incense rises,
like Jesus (they say) rose–
touching Satan’s cloak–
above the evening clouds to view
all the kingdoms of earth
golden before him:
his stomach knotted,
teetering on the
edge of the highest high
mountain, so high
that to look down made
even a god dizzy with power.
Rise like the lark ascending
into the gray English skies
fluttering in darts and fits
first to sight, then barely visible
and then like a hell-kite
at one fell swoop down, down—
from beauty to despair.

I take my arms away.
We are unlocked
and the soul that rose with you
falls hard to earth, shorn from
the wings that bore it,
the pinions that for a moment
took us to the Lote tree,
the garden of refuge,
where choirs of angels
praise Allah
ceaselessly.