"Like Sunlight Upon the Earth"

I am from you, and at the same time, you have devoured me.
I melt in you since through you I froze.
You squeeze me with your hand,
and then you step on me with your foot.
This is how the grape becomes wine.
You cast us like sunlight upon the earth.
And our light, passing through the body
as if it were an open window to our Source,
returns, purified, to You.
Whoever sees that sun says,
"He is alive,"
and whoever sees only the window says,
"He is dying."
He has veiled our origin in that cup of pain and joy.
Within our core we are pure;
all the rest is dregs.
Source of the soul of souls, Shams, the Truth of Tabriz,
a hundred hearts are afire for you.

-- Ode 2399
Version by Kabir Helminski
"Love is a Stranger"
Threshold Books, 1993

The image:
http://tinyurl.com/g73o3

"Like Sunlight Upon the Earth"