One can’t rely on those
who have no purity and love;
one should not let oneself be ridiculed
by every aimless fool.
Avoid entering the tavern
of the Magi for as long as you can,
but once you set foot there,
don’t question anything.
No one has ever arrived
at the final destination,
yet one should not stop striving
on the way to this goal.
In that banquet
where one can’t tell beggar from king,
one cannot speak of “up” and “down”
or “we” and “you.”
Never claim the title of “dervish”
and “Sufi” for yourself,
for in this valley of bewilderment
one must be without “I” and “you.”
Don’t take love for a toy;
don’t laugh at the lovers.
In this arithmetic
one cannot add two and two so simply.
O Nurbakhsh, once again
you have spoken of love —
this is the pain
that nothing can cure.