[Sunlight] "The veils hiding the way of the lover"

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Love is a stranger to the two worlds:
in it are seventy-two madnesses.
It is hidden; only its bewilderment is manifest:
the soul of the spiritual sultan longs for it.
Love's religion is other than the seventy-two sects:
beside it the throne of kings is just a floorboard.
In the moments of sema* Love's bard strikes up the melody:
"Servitude is bondage and power is a headache."
Then what is Love? The Sea of Not-Being:
there the foot of the intellect is shattered and can no longer swim.
Servitude and sovereignty are known:
the way of the lover is hidden by these two veils.

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Bâ do `âlam `eshq-râ bigânegi
andaru haftâd o do divânegi
Sakht panhânast va paydâ hayratesh
jân-e soltânân-e jân dar hasratesh
Ghayr-e haftâd o do mellat kish-e u
takht-e shâhân takhteh-bandi pish-e u
Motreb-e `eshq in zanad vaqt-e samâ`
bandegi band va khodâvandi sodâ`
Pas cheh bâshad `eshq Daryâ-ye `Adam
dar shekasteh `aql-râ ânjâ qadam
Bandegi o saltanat ma`lum shod
zin do pardeh `âsheqi maktum shod

-- Mathnawi III: 4719-4724
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)

*The occasion of listening to spiritual music.
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[Sunlight] "The veils hiding the way of the lover"