a thief in the night

Suddenly
       (yet somehow unexpected)
he arrived
       the guest...
the heart trembling
       "Who's there?"
       and soul responding
              "The Moon..."

       came into the house
       and we lunatics
ran into the street
       stared up
              looking
                     for the moon.


Then-inside the house-
       he cried out
"Here I am!"
       and we
beyond earshot
       running around
              calling him...
crying for him
       for the drunken nightingale
locked lamenting
       in our garden
while we
       mourning ring doves
              murmured "Where
                     where?"

As if at midnight
       the sleepers bolt upright
in their beds
       hearing a thief
break into the house
       in the darkness
they stumble about
       crying "Help!
              A thief! A thief!"
but the burglar himself
       mingles in the confusion
echoing their cries:
       "...a thief!"
              till one cry
melts with the others.

And He is with you*
       with you
in your search
       when you seek Him
look for Him
       in your looking
closer to you
       than yourself
              to yourself:
Why run outside?
       Melt like snow.
wash yourself
       with yourself:
urged by Love
       tongues sprout
from the soul
       like stamens
              from the lily...

But learn
       this custom
from the flower:
       silence
              your tongue.

*Qur'an 4:57
Diwan-e Shams, v.V.ED. FURUZANFAR, P., 2172
(translated by Peter Lamborn Wilson)
The Rumi Collection, edited by Kabir Helminski