O thou dear one!  Impoverish thyself, that thou mayest enter the high court of riches; and humble thy body, that thou mayest drink from the river of glory, and attain to the full meaning of the poems whereof thou hadst asked.

Thus it hath been made clear that these stages depend on the vision of the wayfarer.  In every city he will behold a world, in every Valley reach a spring, in every meadow hear a song.  But the falcon of the mystic heaven hath many a wondrous carol of the spirit in His breast, and the Persian bird keepeth in His soul many a sweet Arab melody; yet these are hidden, and hidden shall remain.

    If I speak forth, many a mind will shatter,
    And if I write, many a pen will break.(51) ,(52)

Peace be upon him who concludeth this exalted journey and followeth the True One by the lights of guidance.

And the wayfarer, after traversing the high planes of this supernal journey, entereth

The Valley of Contentment

In this Valley he feeleth the winds of divine contentment blowing from the plane of the spirit.  He burneth away the veils of want, and with inward and outward eye, perceiveth within and without all things the day of:  “God will compensate each one out of His abundance."(53) From sorrow he turneth to bliss, from anguish to joy.  His grief and mourning yield to delight and rapture.

Although to outward view, the wayfarers in this Valley may dwell upon the dust, yet inwardly they are throned in the heights of mystic meaning; they eat of the endless bounties of inner significances, and drink of the delicate wines of the spirit.

The tongue faileth in describing these three Valleys, and speech falleth short.  The pen steppeth not into this region, the ink leaveth only a blot.  In these planes, the nightingale of the heart hath other songs and secrets, which make the heart to stir and the soul to clamor, but this mystery of inner meaning may be whispered only from heart to heart, confided only from breast to breast.

    Only heart to heart can speak the bliss of mystic knowers;
    No messenger can tell it and no missive bear it.(54)

    I am silent from weakness on many a matter,
    For my words could not reckon them and my speech would fall short.(55)

O friend, till thou enter the garden of such mysteries, thou shalt never set lip to the undying wine of this Valley.  And shouldst thou taste of it, thou wilt shield thine eyes from all things else, and drink of the wine of contentment; and thou wilt loose thyself from all things else, and bind thyself to Him, and throw thy life down in His path, and cast thy soul away.  However, there is no other in this region that thou need forget:  “There was God and there was naught beside Him."(56) For on this plane the traveler witnesseth the beauty of the Friend in everything.  Even in fire, he seeth the face of the Beloved.  He beholdeth in illusion the secret of reality, and readeth from the attributes the riddle of the Essence.  For he hath burnt away the veils with his sighing, and unwrapped the shroudings with a single glance; with piercing sight he gazeth on the new creation; with lucid heart he graspeth subtle verities.  This is sufficiently attested by:  “And we have made thy sight sharp in this day."(57)