I seek thy nearness, dearer than sweet Heaven;
    I see thy visage, fairer than Paradise bowers.(136)

When I entrusted this message of love to My pen, it refused the burden, and it swooned away.  Then coming to itself, it spoke and said, “Glory be to Thee!  To Thee do I turn in penitence, and I am the first of them that believe."(137) Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds!

    Let us tell, some other day
    This parting hurt and woe;
    Let us write, some other way,
    Love’s secrets—­better so. 
    Leave blood and noise and all of these,
    And say no more of Shams-i-Tabriz.(138)

Peace be upon thee, and upon those who circle around thee and attain thy meeting.

What I had written ere this hath been eaten by the flies, so sweet was the ink.  As Sa’di saith:  “I shall forbear from writing any longer, for my sweet words have drawn the flies about me.”

And now the hand can write no more, and pleadeth that this is enough.  Wherefore do I say, “Far be the glory of thy Lord, the Lord of all greatness, from what they affirm of Him."(139)

Notes

   1.  The Manifestation.

   2.  Muhammad, Ahmad and Mahmud are names and titles of the Prophet,
      derived from the verb “to praise,” “to exalt.”

   3.  Qur’an 17:110.

   4.  Sermon by ’Ali.

   5.  Qur’an 2:282.

   6.  Qur’an 16:71.

   7.  Qur’an 16:71.

   8.  The holy Sanctuary at Mecca.  Here the word means “goal.”

   9.  Qur’an 29:69:  “And whoso maketh efforts for Us, in Our ways will We
      guide them.”

  10.  The holy Sanctuary at Mecca.  Here the word means “goal.”

  11.  Literally, Majnun means “insane.”  This is the title of the
      celebrated lover of ancient Persian and Arabian lore, whose beloved
      was Layli, daughter of an Arabian prince.  Symbolizing true human
      love bordering on the divine, the story has been made the theme of
      many a Persian romantic poem, particularly that of Nizami, written
      in 1188-1189 A.D.

  12.  Arabian proverb.

  13.  Refer to the story of Joesph in the Qur’an and the Old Testament.

  14.  Faridu’d-Din Attar (ca. 1150-1230 A.D.), the great Persian Sufi
      poet.

  15.  Persian mystic poem.

  16.  Persian mystic poem.  Cf.  The Hidden Words, No. 7, Arabic.

  17.  Qur’an 50:29.

  18.  Jalalu’d-Din Rumi (1207-1273 A.D.); The Ma_th_navi.  Jalalu’d-Din,
      called Mawlana ("our Master"), is the greatest of all Persian Sufi
      poets, and founder of the Mawlavi “whirling” dervish order.

  19.  From an ode by Baha’u’llah.

  20.  Qur’an 67:3.

  21.  Qur’an 67:3.

  22.  Qur’an 41:53.