Islam

Rûmî, Divan (Davis), “I Well Cherish the Soul”

"I am a painter, a maker of pictures; every moment I shape a beauteous form,
And then in Thy presence I melt them all away.
I call up a hundred phantoms and indue them with a spirit;
When I behold Thy phantom, I cast them in the fire."
Lo! I will cherish the soul, because it has a perfume of Thee.
Every drop of blood which proceeds from me is saying to Thy dust:
"I am one colour with Thy love, I am a partner of Thy affection."
In the house of water and clay this heart is desolate without Thee;
O Beloved, enter the house, or I will leave it.

Source Rûmî, Divan de Shams-i Tabrîz, extraits traduits par R. A. Nicholson (1898) et al., in F. Hadland Davis, The Persian Mystics: Jalálu’d-dín Rúmí (1907), gutenberg.org #45159 · Contents