As His light utterly burns up the angels,
So it burns reason from head to foot.
Reason's light applied to the Light of lights
is as the eye of the head applied to the sun.
When the object seen is very near the eye
the eye is darkened and cannot see it.
This blackness is indeed the light of the Real;
In the land of darkness is the well-spring of life.
Since the dark destroys the light of vision,
Give up looking. This is no place for looking.
-Mahmoud Shabistari (trans. Whinfield)
In the absolute madness of love I am sane - and I dance
In His dreams and fantasies I am awake - and I dance
Out of ocean depths of desiring Him I overflow - and I laugh
I am filled with His bountiful drunkenness - and I dance
My idleness is busyness and all my business is idle
I have no work - I am unemployed - and I dance.
From the land of loneliness I have reached he Station of King
Jamshid
And now I am the Chief in the country of all souls - and I dance.
Eager for the encounter I escaped myself
Like Mansur I am strung upon the gallows - and I dance.
A vagabond lover wandering through alleyways and bazaars
The Beloved has dropped His mask -I'm helpless - and I dance.
No thought of infamy passes through the lover's mind
In the realm of fame and reputation I am first - and I dance.
My unconsciousness is awareness - my sobriety is drunkenness
In drunkenness and sobriety I am with the Friend - and I dance.
I am content, within and without, I have surrendered myself
Brought myself back from Other-than-He - and I dance.
-Reza Ali Shah Herati (trans. Peter Lamborn Wilson)