Part 3

74 ‘Say, Fool, which was in being first, thy heart or thy love?’ He answered and said: ‘Both came into being together; for were it not so, the heart had not been made for love, nor love for reflection.’

75 They asked the Fool: ‘Where did thy love have its birth: in the secrets of the Beloved, or in the revelation of them?’ He replied: ‘Love in its fullness makes no such distinction as this; for secretly the Lover hides the secrets of his Beloved; secretly also he reveals them, and yet when they are revealed he keeps them secret still.’

76 The secrets of love, unrevealed, cause anguish and grief; revelation of love brings fervour and fear. And for this cause the Lover must ever be suffering.

77 Love called his lovers, and bade them ask of him the most desirable and pleasing gifts. And they asked of Love that he would clothe and adorn them after his own manner, that they might be more acceptable to the Beloved.

78 The Lover cried aloud to all men, and said: ‘Love bids you ever love: in walking and sitting, in sleeping and waking, in buying and selling, in weeping and laughing, in speech and in silence, in gain and in loss--in short, in whatsoever you do, for this is Love’s commandment.’

79 ‘Say, Fool, when did Love first come to thee?’ ‘In that time,’ he replied, ‘when my heart was filled and enriched with thoughts and desires, sighs and griefs, and my eyes with tears.’ ‘And what did Love bring thee?’ ‘The wondrous ways of my Beloved, His honours and His exceeding worth.’ ‘How did these things come?’ ‘Through my memory and understanding.’ ‘How didst thou receive them?’ ‘With love and hope.’ ‘How dost thou keep them?’ ‘With justice and prudence, temperance and courage.’

80 The Beloved sang, and said: ‘Little the Lover knows of love, if he is ashamed to praise his Beloved, or if he fears to do Him honour in that place where He is most dishonoured; and little has he learned to love who is impatient of tribulations; and he who loses trust in his Beloved loses also his love and hope.’

81 The Lover wrote to his Beloved, and asked Him if there were others who could help him to suffer and bear the grievous trials which he endured for love of Him. And the Beloved replied to the Lover: ‘There is nought in Me that can forsake nor fail thee.’

82 They asked the Beloved concerning the love of His Lover. He answered: ‘It is a mingling of joy and sorrow, of fervency and fear.’ They asked the Lover concerning the love of his Beloved. And he answered: ‘It is the inflowing of infinite goodness, eternal life, power, wisdom, charity and perfection. This is that which flows to the Lover from the Beloved.’

83 ‘Say, O Fool, what meanest thou by a marvel?’ He replied: ‘It is a marvel to love things absent more than things present; and no less to love things seen and things corruptible more than things unseen and incorruptible.’

84 The Lover went to seek his Beloved, and he found a man who was dying without love. And he said: ‘How great a sadness is it that any man should die without love!’ So the Lover said to him that was dying: ‘Say, why dost thou die without love?’ And he replied: ‘Because I lived without love.’

85 The Lover asked his Beloved: ‘Which is the greater--loving, or love itself?’ The Beloved answered: ‘In this mortal life, love is the tree, the fruit of which is loving; the flowers and the leaves are trials and griefs. And in God, love and loving are one and the same thing, without either griefs or trials.’

86 The Lover was sorrowful, and wearied with overmuch thought. And therefore he begged his Beloved to send him a book, in which he might see Him in His virtues, that his sorrow might thereby be relieved. So the Beloved sent that book to the Lover, and his trials and griefs were doubled.

87 Sick with love was the Lover, and a physician came in to see him who doubled his sorrows and his thoughts. And in that same hour the Lover was healed.

88 Love went apart with the Lover, and they had great joy of the Beloved as they communed of Him. The Lover wept, and afterwards was in rapture, and Love swooned thereat. But the Beloved brought life to His Lover by revealing to him His Countenance.

89 The Lover said to the Beloved: ‘By many ways dost Thou come to my heart, and revealest Thyself to my sight. And by many names do I name Thee. But the love by which Thou sustainest me and humblest me is one, and one alone.’

90 The Beloved revealed Himself to His Lover, clothed in new and scarlet robes. He stretched out His Arms to embrace him; He inclined His Head to kiss him; and He remained on high that he might ever seek Him.

91 The Beloved was absent from His Lover, and the Lover sought his Beloved with his memory and understanding, that he might worthily love Him. The Lover found his Beloved, and asked Him whither He had been. ‘Far from thy memory,’ answered the Beloved, ‘and in a place which thy understanding knew not.’

92 ‘Say, O Fool, hast thou shame when men see thee weep for thy Beloved?’ ‘Shame apart from sin,’ answered the Lover, ‘signifies want of love in one who knows not how to love.’

93 The Beloved planted in the heart of the Lover sighs and longings, virtue and love. The Lover watered the seed with his tears. In the body of the Lover the Beloved planted trials, tribulations and griefs. And the Lover tended his body with hope and devotion, consolation and patience.

94 The Beloved made a great feast, gathered an assembly of many noble knights, sent many invitations and gave great gifts. To this assembly came the Lover, and the Beloved said to him: ‘Who called thee to come to this assembly?’ The Lover answered: ‘Need and love compelled me to come, that I might behold Thy face, Thy wonders, Thy adornments and Thy glory.’

95 They asked the Lover: ‘Whence art thou?’ He answered: ‘From love.’ ‘To whom dost thou belong?’ ‘I belong to love.’ ‘Who gave thee birth?’ ‘Love.’ ‘Where wast thou born?’ ‘In love.’ ‘Who brought thee up?’ ‘Love.’ ‘How dost thou live?’ ‘By love.’ ‘What is thy name?’ ‘Love.’ ‘Whence comest thou?’ ‘From love.’ ‘Whither goest thou?’ ‘To love.’ ‘Where dwelled thou?’ ‘In love.’ ‘Hast thou aught but love?’ ‘Yea,’ he answered, ‘I have faults; and I have sins against my Beloved.’ ‘Is there pardon in thy Beloved?’ ‘Yea,’ answered the Lover, ‘in my Beloved there is justice and mercy, and therefore am I lodged between fear and hope; for mercy causes me to hope and justice to fear.’

96 The Beloved left the Lover, and the Lover sought Him in his thoughts, and inquired for Him of men in the language of love. The Lover found his Beloved, who was despised among the people, and he told the Beloved what great wrong was done to His Name. The Beloved answered him, and said: ‘Lo, I suffer these wrongs for want of fervent and devoted lovers.’ The Lover wept, and his sorrow was increased, but the Beloved comforted him, by revealing to him His Presence.

97 The light of the Beloved’s abode came to illumine the Lover’s dwelling, which was full of darkness, and to fill it with joy, with grief and with thoughts. And the Lover cast out all things from his dwelling, that the Beloved might be lodged there.

98 They asked the Lover what sign the Beloved bore upon His banner. He replied: ‘The sign of One dead.’ They asked him why He bore such a sign. He answered: ‘Because He was once crucified, and was dead, and because those who glory in being His lovers must follow His steps.’

99 The Beloved came to lodge in the dwelling of His Lover, and the steward demanded of Him the reckoning. But the Lover said: ‘My Beloved is to be lodged freely,--yea, with a gift,--for long ago He paid the price of all men.’

100 Memory and Will met together, and climbed into the mountain of the Beloved, that understanding might be exalted and love for the Beloved might be increased.

101 Every day sighs and tears are messengers between the Lover and the Beloved, that between them there may be solace and companionship, love and goodwill.

102 The Lover desired his Beloved, and sent to Him his thoughts, that they might bring him back from his Beloved the joys which for so long had been his.

103 The Beloved gave to His Lover the gift of tears, sighs, thoughts, weariness and grief, with which gift the Lover served his Beloved.

104 The Lover begged his Beloved to give him riches, peace and honour in this world; and the Beloved revealed His Countenance to the memory and understanding of the Lover, and gave Himself as the Supreme Aim to his will.

105 They asked the Lover: ‘In what consists honour?’ He answered: ‘In comprehending and loving my Beloved.’ And they asked him also: ‘In what consists dishonour?’ He answered: ‘In forgetting and ceasing to love Him.’

106 ‘O my Beloved, I was tormented by love, until I cried that Thou wast present in my torments; and then did love ease my griefs, and Thou as a guerdon didst increase my love, even as Thou didst double my torment.’

107 In the path of love the Lover found another who was silent, and who with tears, grief, and a sad countenance made accusation and reproach against Love. And Love made excuse, saying that he had given him noble gifts: loyalty, hope, patience, devotion, courage, temperance and happiness; and he blamed the Lover who cried out upon Love, for that he had given him such gifts as these.

108 The Lover sang and said: ‘Ah, what great affliction is love! Ah, what great happiness it is to love my Beloved, who loves His lovers with infinite and eternal love, perfect and complete in everything!’

109 The Lover went into a far country seeking his Beloved, and in the way he met two lions. The Lover was afraid, even to death, for he desired to live and serve his Beloved. So he sent Memory to his Beloved, that Love might be present at his passing, for with Love he could better endure death. And while the Lover thought upon his Beloved, the two lions came humbly to the Lover, licked the tears from his eyes, and caressed his hands and feet. So the Lover went on his way in search of his Beloved.

110 The Lover journeyed over hill and dale, but he could find no way of escape from the imprisonment in which Love had for so long enthralled his body and his thoughts and all his desires and joys. While the Lover went labouring thus, he found a hermit who was sleeping near to a fair spring. The Lover wakened the hermit, and asked him if in his dreams he had seen the Beloved. The hermit replied that his own thoughts also, whether he was sleeping or waking, were imprisoned by Love. And the Lover joyed greatly at finding a fellow-prisoner; so they both wept, for the Beloved has few such lovers as these.

111 There is naught in the Beloved which is not care and sorrow for the Lover, nor has the Lover aught in himself in which the Beloved joys not and has no part. And therefore is the love of the Beloved ever active, while that of the Lover is grief and suffering.

112 A bird was singing upon a branch: ‘I will give a fresh thought to the lover who will give me two.’ The bird gave that fresh thought to the Lover, and the Lover gave two to the bird, that its grief might be assuaged; and the Lover felt his griefs increased.

113 The Lover and the Beloved met together, and their caresses and embraces, their weeping and crying, bore witness to their meeting. Then the Beloved asked the Lover concerning his state, and the Lover was speechless before his Beloved.

114 The Lover and the Beloved strove, and their love made peace between them. Which of them, think you, bore the stronger love toward the other?

115 The Lover loved all who feared his Beloved, and he feared all who feared Him not. And there arose this doubt: Had the Lover more of love or of fear?

116 The Lover thought to follow his Beloved, and he passed along a road where there was a fierce lion which killed all who passed by it carelessly and without devotion. Then the Lover said: ‘He who fears not my Beloved must fear everything, and he who fears Him may be bold and fervent in all things beside.’

117 They asked the Lover: ‘What meanest thou by occasion of love?’ He answered: ‘It is to have pleasure in penance, understanding in knowledge, hope in patience, health in abstinence, consolation in remembrance, love in diligence, loyalty in destitution, riches in poverty, peace in obedience, strife in malevolence.’

118 Love shone through the cloud which came between the Lover and the Beloved, and made it as bright and resplendent as is the moon by night, as the day-star at dawn, the sun at midday, the understanding in the will; and through that bright cloud the Lover and the Beloved held converse.

119 They asked the Lover: ‘What is the greatest darkness?’ He replied: ‘The absence of my Beloved.’ ‘And what is the greatest light?’ ‘The presence of my Beloved.’

120 The marks of the Beloved are seen in the Lover, who for love’s sake is in thought and grief, sighs and tears, and contempt of the people.

121 The Lover wrote these words: ‘My Beloved delighteth because I raise my thoughts to Him, and my eyes are in grief and tears, and I neither live nor feel, nor taste nor see nor hear.’

122 Ah, understanding and will, cry out and awaken the watchdogs who sleep, forgetting my Beloved. Weep, O eyes! Sigh, O heart! And, memory, forget not the dishonour which is done to my Beloved by those whom He has so greatly honoured.

123 The enmity of men to my Beloved increases. Yet my Beloved promises gifts and rewards, and threatens with justice and wisdom. And memory and will despise both His threats and His promises.

124 The Beloved drew near to the Lover, to comfort and console him for the grief which he suffered and the tears which he shed. And the nearer was the Lover to the Beloved, the more he grieved and wept, crying out upon the dishonour which his Beloved endured.

125 With the pen of love, with the water of his tears, and on paper of suffering, the Lover wrote letters to his Beloved. And in these he told how devotion tarried, how love was dying, and how falsehood and error were increasing the number of His enemies.

126 The Lover and the Beloved were bound in love with the bonds of memory, understanding, and will, that they might never be parted; and the cord with which these two loves were bound was woven of thoughts and griefs, sighs and tears.

127 The Lover lay in the bed of love: his sheets were of joy, his coverlet was of griefs, his pillow of tears. And none knew if the fabric of the pillow was that of the sheets or of the coverlet.

128 The Beloved clothed His Lover in vest, coat and mantle, and gave him a helmet of love. His body He clothed with thoughts, his feet with tribulations, and his head with a garland of tears.

129 The Beloved adjured His Lover not to forget Him. The Lover replied that he could not forget Him because he could not do otherwise than know Him.

130 The Beloved said to His Lover: ‘Thou shalt praise and defend Me in places where men fear to praise Me.’ The Lover answered: ‘Provide me then with love.’ The Beloved answered: ‘For love of thee I became incarnate, and endured the pains of death.’

131 The Lover said to his Wellbeloved: ‘Teach me how to make Thee known and loved and praised among men.’ The Beloved filled His Lover with devotion, patience, charity, tribulations, thoughts, sighs and tears. And boldness to praise the Beloved entered the Lover’s heart; and in his mouth were praises of his Beloved; and in his will was contempt of the murmurings of men who judge falsely.

132 The Lover said to the people: ‘He who truly remembers my Beloved, in remembering Him forgets all things around; and he who forgets all things in remembering my Beloved, is defended by Him from all harm, and receives a part in all His blessings.’

133 They asked the Lover: ‘Whereof is Love born, whereon does it live, and wherefore does it die?’ The Lover answered: ‘Love is born of remembrance, it lives on understanding, it dies through forgetfulness.’

134 The Lover forgot all that was beneath the high heavens that his understanding might soar the higher towards a knowledge of the Beloved, whom his will desired to comprehend, to contemplate, praise and preach.

135 The Lover went to the wars for the honour of his Beloved, and took with him faith, hope and charity, justice, prudence, strength and temperance with which to vanquish his Beloved’s enemies. And the Lover would have been vanquished if the Beloved had not helped him to make known His greatness.

136 The Lover desired to attain to the farthest goal of his love for the Beloved; and other objects blocked his path. For this cause his longing desires and thoughts gave the Lover sorrow and grief.

137 The Lover was glad, and rejoiced in the greatness of his Beloved. But afterwards the Lover was sad because of overmuch thought and reflection. And he knew not which he felt the more deeply--the joys or the sorrows.

138 The Lover was sent by his Beloved to Christian princes and to unbelievers, to teach them by his _Art_[5] and his _Elements_[5] to know and love his Beloved.

139 If thou seest a lover clothed in fine raiment, prizing vainglory, sated with food and sleep, know that in that man thou seest damnation and torment. And if thou seest a lover poorly clothed, despised by the world, pale and thin with fast and vigil, know that in that man thou lookest upon salvation and everlasting weal.

140 The Lover made complaint to his Beloved of the heat of the fire which raged in his breast. The Lover was like to die, and the Beloved wept, and gave him the comfort of patience and the sure hope of reward.

141 The Lover wept for all that he had lost; and none could comfort him, for his losses could not be regained.

142 God created the night that men might keep vigil, and meditate upon the glories of the Beloved: there was a time when the Lover thought that it was created for the rest and sleep of those who were wearied with loving.

143 Men reproached and reproved the Lover, because he went about as a fool for love’s sake. And the Lover despised their reproaches, and himself reproved them, because they loved not his Beloved.

144 The Lover said: ‘I am clothed in vile raiment; but love clothes my heart with thoughts of delight, and my body with tears, griefs and sufferings.’

145 The Beloved sang, and said: ‘I taught those who praise Me to sing My praises aright, and the enemies of My honour have tormented and despised them. Therefore have I sent my Lover that he may weep and lament the dishonour which I have suffered, and his laments and tears are the fruit of My love.’

146 The Lover made oath to the Beloved that for love of Him he endured and loved trials and sufferings, and he begged the Beloved that He would think upon his trials and sufferings. The Beloved made oath that it was the nature and property of His love to love all those that loved Him, and to have pity on those who endured trials for love of Him. The Lover was glad, and rejoiced in the nature and property of his Beloved.

147 The Beloved silenced His Lover, and the Lover took comfort in gazing upon his Beloved.

148 The Lover wept and called upon his Beloved, until the Beloved came down from the heights of Heaven; and He came to earth to weep and suffer and die for the sake of love, and to teach men to know and love and praise His Name.

149 The Lover reproached Christian people, because in their letters they put not first the name of his Beloved, Jesus Christ, to do Him the same honour that the Saracens do to the false prophet Mahomet, when they honour him by naming him before everything in their letters.

150 The Lover met a Squire, pale, thin, and poorly clothed, who was walking along in pensive fashion; and he saluted the Lover and said: ‘Now God guide thee, that thou mayest find thy Beloved!’ And the Lover asked him how he had recognised him; and the Squire said: ‘Some of Love’s secrets reveal others, and therefore between lovers there is recognition.’

151 The glory, honour and goodness of the Beloved are the riches and treasure of the Lover. And the Beloved’s treasure is the store of thoughts, desires, torments, tears and griefs with which the Lover ever loves and honours his Beloved.

152 A great and goodly company of tried lovers have gathered together; they bear the banner of love, on which is the form and figure of their Beloved. And they will have with them none who has not love, lest their Beloved should be dishonoured.

153 They who show their folly by heaping up riches move the Lover to be a fool for love; and the shame which the Lover feels at going as a fool among men makes him to be esteemed and loved. Which of the two emotions, think you, is the greater occasion of love?

154 Love made the Lover to be sad through excess of thought; the Beloved sang, and the Lover rejoiced to hear Him. Which of these two causes, think you, increased more the Lover’s love?

155 In the secrets of the Lover are revealed the secrets of the Beloved, and in the secrets of the Beloved are revealed the secrets of the Lover. Which of these two secrets, think you, is the greater cause of revelation?

156 They asked the Fool by what signs his Beloved might be known. He answered: ‘By mercy and pity, which are essentially in His Will, without mutation or change.’

157 Such was the love which the Lover had to his Beloved, that he desired the good of all above the good of each, and for his Beloved to be everywhere known and praised, and desired of all the world.

158 Love and Indifference met in a garden, where the Lover and the Beloved were talking in secret. And Love asked Indifference why he had come to that place. ‘That the Lover may cease to love,’ he replied, ‘and the Beloved to be honoured.’ The words of Indifference were greatly displeasing to the Beloved and the Lover, and their love was increased, that Indifference might be vanquished and destroyed thereby.

159 ‘Say, O Fool, in which dost thou take the greater pleasure--in loving or in hating?’ ‘In loving,’ he replied, ‘for I have only hated that I may the better love.’

160 ‘Say, O Lover, which dost thou strive to understand the better--falsehood or truth?’ He answered: ‘Truth.’ ‘And why so?’ ‘Because I understand falsehood that I may the better understand truth.’

161 The Lover perceived that he was loved by his Beloved, and he inquired of Him if His love and His mercy were one and the same thing. The Beloved affirmed that in His essence there was no distinction between His love and His mercy. Therefore said the Lover: ‘Why, then, does Thy love torment me, and why does not Thy mercy heal me of my griefs?’

162 The Lover desired to go into a far country to do honour to his Beloved, and he wished to disguise himself that he might not be taken captive on the way; but he could not hide the tears in his eyes, nor his pale and drawn face, nor the thoughts, complaints and sighs, the sorrow and grief of his heart. And so he was taken captive on the journey and delivered to the tormentors by the enemies of his Beloved.

163 Imprisoned was the Lover in the prison of Love. Thoughts, desires and memories held and enchained him lest he might flee from his Beloved. Griefs tormented him; patience and hope consoled him. And the Lover was dying, but the Beloved revealed to him His Presence, and the Lover revived.

164 The Lover met his Beloved, and he knew Him and wept. The Beloved reproved him, because he wept not until he knew Him. ‘How didst thou know Me,’ He asked, ‘since thine eyes were not already wet with tears?’ And the Lover answered: ‘By memory, understanding and will, through which, as soon as the eyes of my body saw Thee, my love was increased.’