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He who seeks felicity* is one thing, the lover
something else - he who loves his head has not the feet for
Love.
How should Love's two fire-filled eyes, drowned
in the liver's blood, search for the heart's desire and the
spirits' subsistence?
The lover does not weep for his sorry state, nor
does he rub his eyes from heartache: He wants to be worse
each instant.
He does not want a day of fortune, nor does he
seek a night of ease - his heart stays concealed between night
and day like dawn.
The world has two nests: good fortune and
affliction - by God's Holy Essence, the lover is outside them
both!
The ocean does not make him boil, for he is
unparalleled pearl. His face has not come from the mine, even
if it is yellow like gold.
In love with the spirit's King, how should the
heart seek a kingdom? Enraptured by His slender waist, how
should the spirit seek a robe of honor?
Should a phoenix enter the world, the lover
would not seek its shadow, for he is drunk with love for that
famous Phoenix.
If the world should become all sugar, his heart
would still lament like the reed; and if the Beloved should say
"No!" he will still melt like sugar.
I asked my Lord about Shams al-Din of Tabriz,
whose permanent abode is Love: "Why should such a king go
on a journey?"
-- Ode 586
Translated by William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love"
SUNY Press Albany, 1984
*Sunlight footnote: "felicity" is a somewhat archaic synonym for happiness.
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