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Wednesday, April 2, 2014

The Lover and the Beloved, Part 4

105. They asked the Lover: 'In what consists honour?' He answered: 'In comprehending and loving my Beloved.' And they asked him also: 'In what consists dishonour?' He answered: 'In forgetting and ceasing to love Him.'

115. The Lover loved all who feared his Beloved, and he feared all who feared Him not.  And there arose this doubt: Had the Lover more of love or of fear?

119. They asked the Lover: 'What is the greatest darkness?' He replied: 'The absence of my Beloved.'  'And what is the greatest light?'  'The presence of my Beloved.'

124. The Beloved drew near to the Lover, to comfort and console him for the grief which he suffered and the tears which he shed.  And the nearer was the Lover to the Beloved, the more he grieved and wept, crying out upon the dishonour which his Beloved endured.

125. With the pen of love, with the water of his tears, and on paper of suffering, the Lover wrote letters to his Beloved.  And in these he told how devotion tarried, how love was dying, and how falsehood and error were increasing the number of His enemies.

126. The Lover and the Beloved were bound in love with the bonds of memory, understanding and will, that they might never be parted; and the cord with which these two loves were bound was woven of thoughts and griefs, sighs and tears.

Reference~ The Book of the Lover and the Beloved