Poem XL

1O my soul, who is this, stationed in the house of the heart?Who may occupy the royal seat save the King and the Prince?

2He beckoned with his hand: ‘Say, what do you desire of me?’What does a drunken man desire except sweetmeats and a cup of wine?

3Sweetmeats derived from the soul, a cup of the Absolute Light,An eternal banquet laid in the privacy of “He is the Truth”.

4How many deceivers are there at the wine-drinkers’ feast!Take heed lest thou fall, O easy simple man!

5Beware! do not keep, in a circle of reprobates,Thine eye shut like a bud, thy mouth open like the rose.

6The world resembles a mirror: thy Love is the perfect image;O people, who has ever seen a part greater than the whole?

7Go on foot, like the grass, because in this gardenThe Beloved, like the rose, is riding, all the rest are on foot.