rumi

[raggedprayers]

People are distracted by objects of desire,
and afterwards repent of the lust they've indulged,
because they have indulged with a phantom
and are left even farther from Reality than before.
Your desire for the illusory is a wing,
by means of which a seeker might ascend to Reality.
When you have indulged a lust, your wing drops off;
you become lame and that fantasy flees.
Preserve the wing and don't indulge such lust,
so that the wing of desire may bear you to Paradise.
People fancy they are enjoying themselves,
but they are really tearing out their wings
for the sake of an illusion.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Zin botân-e khalqân parishân mi shavand
shahvat rândeh pashimân mi shavand
Zânke shahvat bâ khayâli rândast
vaz Haqiqat dur-tar vâ mândast
Bâ khayâli mayl-e to chon par bovad
tâ bedân par bar Haqiqat bar shavad
Chon barândi shahvati paret berikht
lang gashti va ân khayâl az to gorikht
Par negah dâr va chonin shahvat ma-rân
tâ par-e maylet barad su-ye Jenân
Khalq pendârand `eshrat mi konand
bar khayâli par-e khvod bar mi konand

-- Mathnawi III: 2133-2138
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)