Ode XIII

’Twere better that the spirit which wears not true love as a garment
Had not been: its being is but shame.
Be drunken in love, for love is all that exists;
Without the dealing of love there is no entrance to the Beloved.
They say, ‘What is love?’ Say, ‘Renunciation of will.’
Whoso has not escaped from will, no will hath he.
The lover is a monarch: two worlds lie at his feet;
The king pays no heed to what lies at his feet.
’Tis love and the lover that live to all eternity;
Set not thy heart on aught else: ’tis only borrowed.
How long wilt thou embrace a dead beloved?
Embrace the soul which is embraced by nothing.
What was born of spring dies in autumn,
Love’s rose-plot hath no aiding from the early spring.
A thorn is the companion of the rose that comes of spring,
And the wine that comes of grape-juice is not free from headache.
Be not an expectant looker-on in this path;
By God, there is no death worse than expectancy.
Set thy heart on sterling coin, if thou be not false;
Give ear to this deep saying, if thou lack an earring.
Do not tremble on the steed of the body, but fare lighter on foot;
God lends him wings who is not mounted on the body.
Dismiss cares and be utterly clear of heart,
Like the face of a mirror without image and picture.
When it becomes clear of images, all images are contained in it;
No man’s face is ashamed of that clear-faced one.
Wouldst thou have a clear mirror, behold thyself therein.
For it is not ashamed or afraid of telling the truth.
Since the steel face gained this purity by discrimination,
What needs the heart’s face, which has no dust?
But betwixt the steel and the heart is this difference,
That the one is a keeper of secrets, while the other is not.