Both aware and untimely he came as my guest; my heart said, “Who has come?” My soul said, “The moonfaced moon.”
He entered the house, we all like madmen searching for that moon gone into the midst of the street.
He was crying out from the house, “I am here”; we, heedless of this cry, go crying everywhere.
That drunken nightingale of ours is lamenting in our rose garden, like ringdoves we are flying and shouting, “Where, where?”
At midnight a crowd leaped out saying, “What? The thief has come?” That thief also is saying, “The thief has come”; and he is the thief.
His shout became so mingled with the shout of all others that not a bit of his shouting stands out in this uproar.
And He is with you means He is with you in this search; when you are seeking, seek Him too in the search.
He is nearer to you than you; why go outside? Become like melting snow, wash yourself of yourself.
Through love a tongue grows in the soul like a lily; keep your tongue silent, imitate the trait of the lily.
