PagineThe Return of the Beloved
by Rumi
Translated by R. A. Nicholson (1898) · From Dīvāni Shamsi Tabrīz
Always at night returns the Beloved: do not eat opium to-night;
Close your mouth against food, that you may taste the sweetness of the mouth.
Lo, the cup-bearer is no tyrant, and in his assembly there is a circle:
Come into the circle, be seated; how long will you regard the revolution (of Time)?
Why, when God's earth is so wide, have you fallen asleep in a prison?
Avoid entangled thoughts, that you may see the explanation of Paradise.
Refrain from speaking, that you may win speech hereafter.
Abandon life and the world, that you may behold the Life of the world.
This poem and this translation are in the public domain. Source text: Project Gutenberg.