You have come in order to expound my secret to all, to reveal and indicate that signless king.
Last night your drunken fantasy came cup in hand. I said, “I will not drink wine”; it said, “Do not, the more loss to you.”
I said, “I fear if I drink, shame will fly from my head; I will reach out to your curls, and you will withdraw from me.”
It saw that I was making airs and said, “Come, it is astonishing that when someone offers you his soul, you should frown on him.
“With all you are deceit and cheating; with the like of me would you be the cheat too? I am the provost of secrets; do you hide a secret from me?
“I am the treasure of the heart of earth; why do you lay your head on the earth? I am the qibla of heaven; why do you turn your face to heaven?
“Look at the king who gives you the {light} of vision; if you angrily turn your head away, you will do the same on the day of death.
“Be pale of cheek for him who gave you the color of your cheeks; why do you saffron your face for the sake of a shadow?
“Be like a cock, time-aware and leader; it would be a pity to make your cock into a hen.
“Sit crookedly but tell the truth; truth has its reward. I am your soul and spirit—do you depart to another?
“If like Lend, you lend [God] a clipping, you will turn half a clipping of counterfeit into a treasure and mine;
“And if for two or three days you bandage your eyes with Fear God, you will make the fountain of your sensible eye into a sea of the pearl of vision.
“If for a moment you go straight as an arrow at my target, you will make the shaft of the arrow of heaven a bow for your string.
“Is there any generosity better than this, that with your sins and guilt I should expound how you should lament before me?
“Enough for those words which will be written are not contained in the mouth; if you were to open every atom, you could make a mouth.”
