Part 4

165 ‘What meanest thou by love?’ said the Beloved. And the Lover answered: ‘It is to bear on one’s heart the sacred marks and the sweet words of the Beloved. It is to long for Him with desire and with tears. It is boldness. It is fervour. It is fear. It is the desire for the Beloved above all things. It is that which causes the Lover to grow faint when he hears the Beloved’s praises. It is that in which I die daily, and in which is all my will.’

166 Devotion and Absent Longing sent thoughts as messengers to the Lover’s heart, to bring tears to his eyes, which for long had wept but now would weep no more.

167 Said the Lover: ‘O ye that love, if ye will have fire, come light your lanterns at my heart; if water, come to my eyes, whence flow the tears in streams; if thoughts of love, come gather them from my meditations.’

168 It happened one day that the Lover was meditating on the great love which he had for his Beloved, and the great trials and perils into which this love for so long had led him, and he fell to considering his reward, which, he said, would surely be great. And as he thus discoursed with himself, it came to him that his Beloved had recompensed him already, for had he not been inspired with a love for His Presence,--with that very love through which his sufferings had come?

169 The Lover was wiping away the tears which for Love’s sake he had shed, that none should see the sufferings which the Beloved sent him. But the Beloved said: ‘Why wouldst thou hide from others these marks of thy love? Behold, I have given them to thee that others may love and honour Me also.’

170 ‘Say, O thou that goest as a fool for love’s sake, how long wilt thou be a slave, and forced to weep and suffer trials and griefs?’ He answered: ‘Till my Beloved shall separate body and soul in me.’

171 ‘Say, O Fool, hast thou riches?’ He answered: ‘I have my Beloved.’ ‘Hast thou villas, castles or cities, provinces or kingdoms?’ He answered: ‘I have thoughts of love, tears, desires, trials, griefs, which are better than kingdoms or empires.’

172 They asked the Lover: ‘How knowest thou the justice of thy Beloved’s decrees?’ He answered: ‘In that He allots to his lovers an equality of joys and of griefs.’

173 ‘Say, O Fool, which of these knows the more of love--he that has joys or he that has trials and griefs?’ He answered: ‘There can be no knowledge of love without both the one and the other.’

174 They asked the Lover: ‘Why wilt thou not defend thyself from the falsehoods, errors and crimes of which thou art accused?’ He answered and said: ‘I have to defend my Beloved, whom men falsely accuse; man may indeed be full of deceit and error, and is scarce worthy to be defended.’

175 ‘Say, O Fool, why defended thou Love when it thus tries and torments thy body and thy soul?’ He answered: ‘Because it increases my worth and my happiness.’

176 The Lover grieved and cried out on his Beloved, because He caused Love to torment him so grievously. And the Beloved made reply by increasing his trials and perils, thoughts and tears.

177 ‘Say, O Fool, why dost thou excuse the guilty?’ He answered: ‘That I may not be like those who accuse the innocent with the guilty.’

178 The Beloved raised the understanding of the Lover that he might comprehend His greatness, and incline his memory to recall his own shortcomings, so that his will might hate them, and aspire to a love of the Beloved and His perfection.

179 The Lover sang of his Beloved and said: ‘So great is my will to love Thee, that all I hated once is now, through love of Thee, a greater happiness and joy to me than what I once loved before ever I loved Thee.’

180 The Lover went through a city, and asked if there were none with whom he might speak of his Beloved as he wished. And they showed him a poor man who was weeping for love, and who sought a companion with whom to speak of love.

181 Thoughtful and perplexed was the Lover, as he wondered how his trials could have their source in the glory of his Beloved, who has such great felicity in Himself. And then he thought of the sun, which, though it is so high, strikes the weak eyes of us men that are here below.

182 The thoughts of the Lover were between forgetfulness of his torments and remembrance of his joys; for the joys of love drive the memory of sorrow away, and the tortures of love recall the happiness which it brings.

183 They asked the Lover: ‘Will thy Beloved ever take away thy love?’ And he answered: ‘No, not while memory has power to remember, nor understanding to comprehend the Beloved’s glory.’

184 ‘Say, O Fool, what is the greatest comparison and similitude of all that can be made?’ He answered: ‘That between Lover and Beloved.’ They asked him: ‘For what reason?’ He replied: ‘For the greatness of their love.’

185 They asked the Beloved: ‘Hast Thou never had pity?’ He answered: ‘If I had not had pity, my Lover had never learned to love Me, nor had I tormented him with sighs and tears, with trials and with griefs.’

186 The Lover was in a vast forest, seeking his Beloved. He found there Truth and Falsehood, who were disputing of his Beloved, for Truth praised Him and Falsehood accused Him. And the Lover cried out to Love that he would come to the aid of Truth.

187 There came the temptation to the Lover to leave his Beloved, that memory might awaken and find the Beloved’s Presence once more; that his love should thereby become deeper, that the understanding should comprehend Him more sublimely, and the will love Him more truly.

188 For one day the Lover ceased to remember his Beloved, and on the next day he remembered that he had forgotten Him. On the day when it came to the Lover that he had forgotten his Beloved, he was in sorrow and pain, and yet in glory and bliss,--the one for having forgotten Him, and the other for the joy of the remembrance.

189 So earnestly did the Lover desire that his Beloved should be honoured and praised, that he doubted if he honoured Him enough; and so strongly did he abhor the dishonour paid to his Beloved, that he doubted if he abhorred it enough. And for this cause the Lover was thoughtful, and wavered between love and fear.

190 The Lover was like to die of joy, and he lived by grief. And his joys and torments were mingled and united, and became one and the same thing in the Lover’s will. And for this cause the Lover seemed to be living and dying at one and the same time.

191 For one hour only the Lover would fain have forgotten his Beloved, and known Him not, that his grief might have some rest. But such oblivion and ignorance had themselves made him to suffer; therefore he had patience, and lifted up his understanding and his memory, in contemplation of his Beloved.

192 So great was the love of the Lover to his Beloved that he believed all things that He revealed to him. And so earnestly did he desire to comprehend Him that he strove with his reason to understand all things that were said of Him. And therefore was the love of the Lover for ever between belief and understanding.

193 They asked the Lover: ‘What thing is farthest from thy heart?’ He answered: ‘Indifference.’ ‘And why so?’ ‘Because nearest to my heart is love, which is the contrary of indifference.’

194 ‘Say, O Fool, hast thou envy?’ He answered: ‘Yea, whensoever I forget the bounty and riches of my Beloved.’

195 ‘Say, O Lover, hast thou riches?’ ‘Yea,’ he replied, ‘I have love.’ ‘Hast thou poverty?’ ‘Yea, I have love.’ ‘How then is this?’ ‘I am poor,’ he replied, ‘because my love is no greater, and because it fills so few others with love for the honour of my Beloved.’

196 ‘Say, O Lover, where is thy power?’ He answered: ‘In the power of my Beloved.’ ‘Wherewith dost thou fight thine enemies?’ ‘With the strength of my Beloved.’ ‘Wherein dost thou seek consolation?’ ‘In the eternal treasures of my Beloved.’

197 ‘Say, O Fool, which lovest thou the more--the mercy or the justice of thy Beloved?’ He answered: ‘So greatly do I love and fear His justice that I find it not in my will to love anything more.’

198 Sins and merits were striving among themselves in the Lover’s conscience. Justice and remembrance increased his remorse, but mercy and hope increased in his will the assurance of pardon; and therefore in the Lover’s penitence the merits conquered the sins.

199 The Lover affirmed that all was perfection in his Beloved, and denied that in Him was any fault at all. Which of these two, think you, is the greater wonder?

200 There was an eclipse in the heavens and darkness over all the earth. And it recalled to the Lover that his guilt had separated him long ago from his Wellbeloved and the darkness had banished the light from his understanding. This is that light by which the Beloved reveals Himself to His lovers.

201 Love came to the Lover, who asked him: ‘What wilt thou?’ And Love replied: ‘I have come to thee that I may nurture and direct thy life, so that at thy death thou shalt be able through my aid to vanquish thy mortal enemies.’

202 When the Lover forgot his Beloved, Love fell sick; and when he gave himself to overmuch thinking, he himself fell sick, and his Beloved gave him trials, griefs and cares.

203 The Lover found a man who was dying without love. And the Lover wept that a man should die without love, for the dishonour which it brought to his Beloved. So he asked that man: ‘Why dost thou die without love?’ And he answered: ‘There is none who will give me knowledge of love, or teach me to be a lover.’ So the Lover sighed and wept, and said: ‘Ah, devotion, when wilt thou be great enough to drive away sin, and to win for my Beloved many fervent and ardent lovers who will never shrink from praising His Name?’

204 The Lover tempted Love to see if he would remain in his heart though he remembered not his Beloved; and his heart ceased to think and his eyes to weep. So his love vanished, and the Lover was perplexed. And he asked all men if they had seen Love.

205 Love and loving, Lover and Beloved are so straitly united in the Beloved that they are of His Essence, and are one. And this though Lover and Beloved are entities distinct, which agree without diversity of essence. So the Beloved is to be loved above all other objects of affection.

206 ‘Say, O Fool, wherefore hast thou so great love?’ He answered: ‘Because long and perilous is the journey which I make in search of my Beloved, and I must seek Him with great faith, and journey with all speed. And none of these things can be accomplished without great love.’

207 The Lover watched and fasted, wept, gave alms, and travelled afar that the Will of the Beloved might be moved to inspire His subjects with love to honour His Name; but the Lover considered that water does not by nature grow hot, nor mount on high, unless it be first heated. Therefore he prayed the Beloved that He would deign first to warm him in his journeys, alms and vigils with the heat of love, that he might accomplish his desires.

208 The Lover met a pilgrim who sang: ‘If the love of the Lover suffices not to move his Beloved to pity and pardon, the love of the Beloved is sufficient to give graces and blessings to His creatures.’

209 ‘Say, O Fool, how canst thou be most like to thy Beloved?’ He replied: ‘By comprehending and loving with all my power the beauties and the perfections of my Beloved.’

210 They asked the Lover if his Beloved had need of aught. ‘Yea,’ he answered, ‘of those who will love and praise Him, and extol His surpassing worth.’

211 The Beloved chastened His Lover’s heart with rods of love, to make him love the tree whence He plucks the rods wherewith He chastens His lovers. And this is that tree on which He suffered grief, dishonour and death, that He might bring back to love of Him those lovers whom He had lost.

212 The Lover met his Beloved, who appeared in power and glory, as One worthy of all honour. And he cried: ‘How strange a thing it is that so few among men revere and know and love Thee as Thou deservest!’ And the Beloved answered him and said: ‘Greatly has man grieved Me; for I created him to revere Me, know Me and love Me, and now, of every thousand, but a hundred fear and love Me; and ninety of these hundred fear Me by reason of the pains of hell, and ten love Me for the sake of the glory hereafter; hardly is there one who loves Me for My goodness and nobility.’ When the Lover heard these words, he wept bitterly for the dishonour paid to his Beloved; and he said: ‘Ah, my Beloved, how much hast Thou given to man and how greatly hast Thou honoured him! Why then has man thus forgotten Thee?’

213 The Lover was praising his Beloved, and he said that He was transcendent because He is in a place where place is not. And therefore, when they asked the Lover where his Beloved was, he replied: ‘He is, but I know not where; I only know that my Beloved is in my remembrance.’

214 The Beloved bought a slave that He might show him His graces, and made him to suffer griefs and heavy thoughts, sighs and tears. And He asked him: ‘What wilt thou eat and drink?’ The slave replied: ‘What Thou wilt.’ ‘But what wilt thou?’ ‘My will is as Thine.’ ‘Hast thou then no will?’ asked the Beloved. He answered: ‘A subject and a slave has no other will than to obey his Lord and his Beloved.’

215 The Beloved inquired of His Lover if he had patience. He answered: ‘All things please me, and therefore I cannot but be patient, for he who is no more lord of his will can not be impatient.’

216 Love gave himself to any who would receive him; and since he gave himself to few and inspired few with love, as he was free and had not been constrained, therefore the Lover cried out on Love, and accused him before the Beloved. But Love made his defence and said: ‘I strive not against free will, for I desire all lovers to have the greatest merit and glory.’

217 There was great strife and contention between Love and the Lover, because the Lover was incensed at the trials which Love made him to bear. And they debated whether Love or the Lover was to blame. So both of them came to the judgment-seat of the Beloved; and He chastened the Lover with griefs and rewarded him with increase of love.

218 There was a contention whether Love has more of thought than of patience. And the Lover resolved the contention, saying that Love is born of thought and nourished with patience.

219 The Lover has for neighbours the perfections of the Beloved; and the Beloved’s neighbours are the thoughts of the Lover, and the trials and tears which Love gives him to bear.

220 The Lover’s will loved to soar on high, that he might have great love toward his Beloved; so he commanded the understanding to soar as high as it might; and the understanding commanded the memory, so that all three mounted to the contemplation of the Beloved’s glories.

221 The will of the Lover left him and flew to the Beloved. And the Beloved gave it into the captivity of the Lover, that he might use it to love and serve Him.

222 The Lover said: ‘O let not my Beloved think that I have left Him to love another, for my love has united me to One, and to One alone.’ The Beloved answered and said: ‘Let not My Lover think that I am loved and served by him alone; for I have many lovers who have loved Me more fervently and for longer than he.’

223 Said the Lover to his Beloved: ‘O my Beloved, that art worthy of all love, Thou hast taught and accustomed my eyes to see and my ears to hear Thy wonders. And these have inspired thoughts which have brought tears to my eyes and griefs to my heart.’ The Beloved answered the Lover: ‘Had I not taught and guided thee so, thy name had not been written in the book of those who shall come to eternal bliss, from which are wiped out the names of such as shall go to eternal punishment.’

224 In the heart of the Lover gathered the glories and beauties of the Beloved, increasing his thoughts and griefs, so that he had altogether died if the Beloved had increased in him any further the thoughts of His greatness.

225 The Beloved came to sojourn in the hostelry of the Lover; and His Lover made Him a bed of thoughts, and there served Him sighs and tears; and the Beloved paid His reckoning with memories.

226 Love put joys and trials together into the Lover’s thoughts, and the joys made complaint of that company and accused Love before the Beloved. But when He had parted them from the sorrows which Love gives to his lovers, behold, they vanished and were gone.

227 The marks of the love which the Lover has to his Beloved are, in the beginning, tears; then, tribulations; and, in the end, death. And with those marks did the Lover preach before the lovers of his Beloved.

228 The Lover went into solitude; and his heart was accompanied by thoughts, his eyes by tears, and his body by fasts and afflictions. But when the Lover returned to the companionship of men, these things went no longer with him, and the Lover remained quite alone in the company of many people.

229 Love is an ocean, its waves troubled by the winds; it has no port or shore. The Lover perished in this ocean, and with him perished his trials, and the work of his fulfilment began.

230 ‘Say, O Fool, what is love?’ He answered: ‘Love is a working together of thought and action towards one end, to which in like manner the Lover’s will also moves; and this is the end, that men may serve and honour his Beloved.’ Think you now that the Lover’s will is in truer harmony with this end when he longs to be with his Beloved, or when he longs to convert to Him many lovers?

231 They asked the Lover: ‘Who is thy Beloved?’ He answered: ‘He who makes me to love, desire, pine, weep, sigh and suffer, and die.’

232 They asked the Beloved: ‘Who is Thy Lover?’ He answered: ‘He who fears naught so that he may honour and praise My Name, and who renounces all things to obey My commandments and counsels.’

233 ‘Say, O Fool, which is the heavier and more grievous burden--the trials of love, or the trials of those that love not?’ And he answered: ‘Go, ask it of those who do penance for the love of their Beloved, and of those who do penance from fear of the pains of hell.’

234 The Lover slept, and Love died, for he had naught whereby to live. The Lover wakened, and Love revived in the thoughts which the Lover sent to his Beloved.

235 The Lover said: ‘The infused science comes from the will, from prayer and devotion; and acquired science comes from study and understanding.’ Which of the two, then, think you, is more proper and more pleasing to the Lover, and which possesses he the more perfectly?

236 ‘Say, O Fool, whence hast thou thy needs?’ He answered: ‘From thoughts, from longing, from adoration, from trials and from perseverance.’ ‘And whence hast thou all these things?’ He answered: ‘From love.’ ‘And whence hast thou thy Beloved?’ ‘From Himself alone.’

237 ‘Say, O Fool, wilt thou be free of all things?’ He answered: ‘Yea, save only of my Beloved.’ ‘Wilt thou be a prisoner?’ ‘Yea, of sighs and tears, thoughts and trials, dangers and exiles, that I may serve my Beloved, for to praise His exceeding worthiness was I created.’

238 Love tormented the Lover, for which cause he lamented and wept. His Beloved called him to come to Him, and be healed; and the nearer came the Lover to his Beloved, the more grievously did love afflict him; and the more he felt of love and grief, the more he loved, and the more perfectly did the Beloved heal him of his sickness.

239 Love fell sick, and the Lover tended him with patience, perseverance, obedience and hope. Love grew well, and the Lover fell sick; and he was cured by his Beloved, who made him to remember His virtue and honour.

240 ‘Say, O Fool, what is solitude?’ He answered: ‘It is solace and companionship between Lover and Beloved.’ ‘And what are solace and companionship?’ ‘Solitude in the Lover’s heart, when he remembers naught save his Beloved.’

241 They asked the Lover: ‘In which is there greater danger, in bearing trials for love’s sake or in enjoying pleasures?’ The Lover took counsel with his Beloved, and replied: ‘The perils which come through pleasures are the perils of ignorance; and those which come through afflictions are the perils of impatience.’

242 The Beloved gave Love his freedom, and allowed men to take him to themselves as much as they would; but scarce one was found who would take him to his heart. And for this cause the Lover wept, and was sad at the dishonour which is paid to Love by the ungrateful among men and by false lovers.

243 Love destroyed all that was in the heart of his faithful Lover that he might live and have free course in it; and the Lover would have died had memory not revealed to him his Beloved.

244 On two things the Lover was wont to meditate: the one was the Essence and the goodness of his Beloved, and the other was his Beloved’s works. He knew not which of these was the more excellent and the more pleasing to the Beloved.

245 ‘Say, O Fool, wouldst thou fain die?’ He answered: ‘Yea, to the pleasures of this world and the thoughts of the unhappy sinners who dishonour and forget my Beloved; in whose thoughts I would have no part nor lot, since my Beloved has no part in them.’

246 ‘If thou speakest truth, O Fool, thou wilt be beaten by men, tormented, mocked, reproved and killed.’ He answered: ‘From those words it follows that if I spoke falsehoods I should be praised by men, served, loved and honoured, and defended by those who despise my Beloved.’

247 False flatterers were speaking ill of the Lover one day in the presence of his Beloved. The Lover was patient, and the Beloved shewed His justice, wisdom and power. And the Lover preferred to be blamed and reproved in this wise, than to be one of those that falsely accused him.

248 The Beloved planted many seeds in the heart of His Lover, but one of them only took life and put forth leaf and gave flower and fruit. Think you that from this single fruit may come many seeds?

249 Far above Love is the Beloved; far beneath it is the Lover; and Love, which lies between these two, made the Beloved to descend to the Lover, and the Lover to rise toward the Beloved. And this ascending and descending is the being and the life of Love--of that Love which makes the Lover to endure pain and which ever serves the Beloved.

250 On the right side of Love stands the Beloved, and on the left side is the Lover; and thus he cannot reach the Beloved unless he pass through Love. And before Love stands the Beloved, and beyond is the Lover; so that the Lover cannot reach Love unless his thoughts and desires have first passed through the Beloved.

251 The Beloved clothed Himself in the garment of His Lover, that he might be His companion in glory for ever. So the Lover desired to wear crimson garments daily, that his dress might be like that of his Beloved.

252 ‘Say, O Fool, what did thy Beloved before the world was?’ He answered: ‘My Beloved loved, because of His manifold properties, eternal, personal, and infinite, in which are Lover, Love and Beloved.’

253 The Lover wept and was sad, when he saw how the unbelievers were losing his Beloved through ignorance; but he rejoiced in the justice of his Beloved, who punishes those that know Him and are disobedient. Which, think you, was greater, his sorrow or his joy? And was his joy greater when he saw his Beloved honoured than his sorrow at seeing Him despised?

254 The Lover contemplated his Beloved in all the variety and harmony of His virtues; and again in the contrariety between virtue and vice; and again in His Being and perfection, which have greater harmony between themselves than non-existence and imperfection.

255 The variety and harmony which the Lover found in the Beloved revealed to him His secrets, to wit, His plurality and unity, to the greater concordance of essence without contrariety.