h. Now,
thy new missive hath dispelled that feeling and causeth Me to write thee.
To speak of My love for thine Eminence is needless. "God is a sufficient
witness!"(135) For his Eminence Shaykh Muhammad--May God the Exalted bless
him!--I shall confine Myself to the two following verses which I request be
delivered to him:

I seek thy nearness, dearer than sweet Heaven;
I see thy visage, fairer than Paradise bowers.(136)

When I entrusted this message of love to My pen, it refused the burden,
and it swooned away. Then coming to itself, it spoke and said, "Glory be
to Thee! To Thee do I turn in penitence, and I am the first of them that
believe."(137) Praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds!

Let us tell, some other day
This parting hurt and woe;
Let us write, some other way,
Love's secrets--better so.
Leave blood and noise and all of these,
And say no more of Shams-i-Tabriz.(138)

Peace be upon thee, and upon those who circle around thee and attain thy
meeting.

What I had written ere this hath been eaten by the flies, so sweet was the
ink. As Sa'di saith: "I shall forbear from writing any longer, for my
sweet words have drawn the flies about me."

And now the hand can write no more, and pleadeth that this is enough.
Wherefore do I say, "Far be the glory of thy Lord, the Lord of all
greatness, from what they affirm of Him."(139)

FOOTNOTES

1 The Manifestation.

2 Muhammad, Ahmad and Mahmud are names and titles of the Prophet,
derived from the verb "to praise," "to exalt."

3 Qur'an 17:110.

4 Sermon by 'Ali.

5 Qur'an 2:282.

6 Qur'an 16:71.

7 Qur'an 16:71.

8 The holy Sanctuary at Mecca. Here the word means "goal."

9 Qur'an 29:69: "And whoso maketh efforts for Us, in Our ways will We
guide them."

10 The holy Sanctuary at Mecca. Here the word means "goal."

11 Literally, Majnun means "insane." This is the title of the
celebrated lover of ancient Persian and Arabian lore, whose beloved
was Layli, daughter of an Arabian prince. Symbolizing true human
love bordering on the divine, the story has been made the theme of
many a Persian romantic poem, particularly that of Nizami, written
in 1188-1189 A.D.

12 Arabian proverb.

13 Refer to the story of Joesph in the Qur'an and the Old Testament.

14 Faridu'd-Din Attar (ca. 1150-1230 A.D.), the great Persian Sufi
poet.