Clear the way
so that those with self-existence
can leave
and the annihilated ones can enter!
The former remain slaves
and victims of themselves;
the latter have pawned themselves in
God’s sanctuary.
Those without love
remain deprived of the Truth —
having sown no seeds,
what can they reap?
Emptied of self,
like the reed pipe,
Sufis listen
to the Divine Reed Player.
The clever, though they boast
about their intellects,
run around in despair
in every direction.
The mystics who are unaware of self
have become
oblivious to what is outmoded
and detached from what is fashionable.
If lovers ever revealed
the secret,
intellectuals would bite their nails
in bewilderment.
Those radiant beauties
who speak of love
bestow light
wherever they go.