If you fall in love with Me, I will mess you up,
cultivate little, or I will ruin you.

If you make two hundred homes like the bees do,
I will make you as homeless as a fly.

If you intend to bewilder people,
I intend to make you drunk and dazed.

If you are Mount Qaf, I will set you in motion
like a millstone and spin you like a wheel.

And if you are a Plato or Luqman in knowledge,
I will turn you unlearned with a single look.

You are in My hand like a dead bird,
and I am a hunter, I’ll make you a bait for the birds.

If you are slumbering on a treasure like a serpent,
I will make you writhe like a wounded snake.

Whether you bring reason or not,
I will make you the convincing proof in your reasoning.

Whether you utter la haul or you don’t,
I will make you the la haul of the Satan like meteors.

How long would you remain captive to this or that?
If you come out of this, I will make you That.

O Shell! When you come to our Ocean,
I will make you a pearl maker, the mother of pearls.
No swords would be able to cut your throat,
if I sacrifice you like Ishmael.

You are like Abraham; have no fear of fire,
I will make a hundred rose gardens from the fire.

Hold on to Our sleeve, if your own sleeves are stained,
so that I make you a shirt of light shining like moonlight,

I am the Bird of Paradise, and if I cast a shadow over your head,
I’ll make you the King of Kings and a Sultan.

Take care! Read less! Keep silent!
So that I may recite and make you a living Qur’an!

Diwani Shamsi Tabrizi 1665

From: Rumi: Love’s Ripening
Translated by K Helminski & A. Rezwani