Reason says, "I will beguile him with the tongue;

"Love says, "Be silent. I will beguile him with the soul."

The soul says to the heart, "Go, do not laugh at meand yourself.

What is there that is not his,

that I may beguile him thereby?

"He is not sorrowful and anxious and seeking oblivionthat

I may beguile him with wine and a heavy measure.

The arrow of his glance needs not a bow

that I should beguile the shaft of his gaze with a bow.

He is not prisoner of the world,

fettered to this world of earth,

that I should beguile him with gold of the kingdom of the world.

He is an angel, though in form he is a man;

he is notlustful that I should beguile him with women

.Angels start away from the house wherein this formis,

so how should I beguile him with such a form and likeness?

He does not take a flock of horses,

since he flies on wings;his food is light,

so how should I beguile him with bread?

He is not a merchant and trafficker in the market of the world

that I should beguile him with enchantment of gain and loss.

He is not veiled that I should make myself out sick andutter sighs,

to beguile him with lamentation.

I will bind my head and bow my head,

for I have got outof hand;

I will not beguile his compassion with sickness or fluttering.

Hair by hair he sees my crookedness and feigning;

what'shidden from him

that I should beguile him with anything hidden.

He is not a seeker of fame,

a prince addicted to poets,

that I should beguile him with verses and lyrics and flowing poetry.

The glory of the unseen form is too great for me

to beguile it with blessing or Paradise.Shams-e Tabriz,

who is his chosen and beloved - perchance

I will beguile him with this same pole of the age.

a new rule

It is the rule with drunkards

to fall upon each other,

to quarrel, become violent,

and make a scene.

The lover is even worse than a drunkard.

I will tell you what love is:

to enter a mine of gold

.And what is that gold?
The lover is a king above all kings,

unafraid of death,

not at all interested in a golden crown.

The dervish has a pearl

concealed under his patched cloak.

Why should he go begging door to door?
Last night that moon came along,

drunk, dropping clothes in the street.

"Get up," I told my heart,

"Give the soul a glass of wine.

The moment has come

to join the nightingale in the garden,

to taste sugar with the soul-parrot."
I have fallen, with my heart shattered

-where else but on your path?

And Ibroke your bowl,

drunk, my idol, so drunk,

don't let me be harmed,

take my hand.
A new rule, a new law has been born:

break all the glasses

and fall toward the glassblower.

rubaeya

I sought a soul in the sea

And found a coral there;

Beneath the foam for meAn ocean

was all laid bare.

Into my heart's night

Along a narrow way

I groped; and lo! the light

,An infinite land of day.

the house of your beloved,

"I am only the house of your beloved,
not the beloved herself:
true love is for the treasure,
not for the coffer that contains it."
The real beloved is that one who is unique,
who is your beginning and your end.
When you find that one,
you'll no longer expect anything else:
that is both the manifest and the mystery.
That one is the lord of states of feeling,
dependent on none;
month and year are slaves to that moon.
When he bids the "state,"
it does His bidding;
when that one wills, bodies become spirit.

life & death

look at love

how it tangles

with the one fallen in love
look at spirit

how it fuses with earth

giving it new life
why are you so busy

with this or that or good or bad

pay attention to how things blend
why talk about all

the known and the unknown

see how the unknown merges into the known
why think seperately

of this life and the next

when one is born from the last
look at your heart and tongue

one feels but deaf and dumb

the other speaks in words and signs
look at water and fire

earth and wind

enemies and friends all at once
the wolf and the lamb

the lion and the deer

far away yet together
look at the unity of this

spring and winter

manifested in the equinox
you too must mingle my friends

since the earth and the sky

are mingled just for you and me
be like sugarcanes weet yet silent

don't get mixed up with bitter words
my beloved grows

right out of my own heart

how much more union can there be

Love!

For lovers, the only lecturer is the beauty of the Beloved;

their only book and lecture and lesson is the Face.

They are silent outwardly,but their penetrating remembrance

rises to the high throne of their Friend.

Their only lesson is enthusiasm,

whirling, and trembling,not the fine points of jurisprudence.

[III, 3847-9]

That which God said to the rose,

and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty,

He said to my heart,and made it a hundred times more beautiful.

[III, 4129]

Many have been led astray by the Qur'an:

by clinging to that rope many have fallen into the well.

There is no fault in the rope,

O perverse man,for it was you who had no desire to reach the top.

[III, 4210-11]