For one who sees truly,
love’s pain is itself the remedy.
But this mystery is revealed
only to those afflicted with it.
That lover who has left the realm of the self
is a stranger to all.
How then could he ever
be cunning?
Love is an attraction that drags multiplicity
away from the heart;
the spirit of Unity that it bestows
is free from all desires.
Love is a ladder
on the path toward God,
a ladder to that place where
“God is wherever you look.”
Only “I am God” is ever uttered
at the stage of love;
this secret is known
to none other than God.
Do not conceive of love
as a pain without cure;
love is a snare set by God —
a sanctuary, not a calamity.
O Nurbakhsh, since the lover
has no awareness of self,
to say he is cunning
would be a grave mistake.