She, whose beautiful face could enslave a man,
she whose haughtiness makes your heart tremble ,
how will you cope when she falls trembling in front of you?

She from whose disdain your heart and soul bleed,
How can they escape what has been made beautiful?
Because the divine created her
that he might take comfort in her,
how can Adam be separated from Eve?

Though he be a hero like Rustam or Hamas,
he is really the captive of his old lady.
The Prophet, to whose words the whole world surrendered,
used to cry to Aisha: “Speak to me my darling redhead!”

Water may extinguish a fire,
unless you put it in a cauldron,
but  the cauldron allows fire to dominate   the water
and turns it to steam.

If outwardly you dominate your wife,
inwardly you are dominated,
seeking her love.

The Prophet said,”Woman
prevails over the wise man,
while the raw and ignorant prevails over her.”
Those men who lack tenderness and affection
are animals, not men.

She is not that kind of beloved most imagine;
she is a ray of God.
She is not just created,
she is creative.

Mathnawi I, 2421-2437

From: Rumi: Love’s Ripening
Translated by K Hemlinski & A Rezwami