How long will I be suffering because of this donkey of a body?
It keeps asking constantly for straw and barley.
Yet in the sky, the galaxy of the Milky Way is full of nourishment.
A donkey can’t have a share of that glory.
It is the soul, that peerless one, who has a share of that kingdom.
You have seen the body. Now, look at the soul.
You have seen jewels. Now, look at the mine.
Meaning constantly says,
“Don’t dress me in those old clothes.”
Words are really nothing more than old shirts,
the kind of old shirts which everyone makes fun of.
I say, “O meaning, come.
Come in a form like the soul,
so that old shirts can become silk with soul’s light.”
Quit washing clothes, so no one will hear.
Don’t mind how others react or what they say.
This soul is tired.
This soul wants privacy, even from the angels who are close to God.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 1, ghazal 45, verses 615-620, page 117.
