PagineThe Call of the Beloved
by Rumi
Translated by R. A. Nicholson (1898) · From Dīvāni Shamsi Tabrīz
Every morning a voice comes to thee from heaven:
"When thou lay'st the dust of the way, thou win'st thy way to the goal."
On the road to the Ka'ba of Union, lo, in every thorn-bush
Are thousands slain of desire who manfully yielded up their lives.
Thousands sank wounded on this path, to whom there came not
A breath of the fragrance of Union, a token from the neighbourhood of the Friend.
This poem and this translation are in the public domain. Source text: Project Gutenberg.