The Lover Seeks and Sought by His Beloved

Never, in sooth, does the lover seek without being sought by his beloved.
When the lightning of love has shot into this heart,

know that there is love in that heart.
When love of God waxes in thy heart, beyond any doubt God hath love for thee.
No sound of clapping comes from one hand without the other hand.
Divine Wisdom is destiny and decree made us lovers of one another.
Because of that fore-ordainment every part of the world is paired with its mate.
In the voew of the wise, Heaven is man and Earth woman:

Earth fosters what Heaven lets fall.
When Earth lacks heat, Heaven sends it; when she has lost her freshness and moisture, Heaven restores it.
Heaven goes on his rounds, like a husband foraging for the wife’s sake;
And Earth is busy with housewiferies:

she attends to births and suckling that which she bears.
Regard Earth and Heaven as endowed with intelligence,

since they do the work of intelligent beings.
Unless these twain taste pleasure from one another,

why are they creeping together like sweethearts?
Without the Earth, how should flower and tree blossom?

What, then, would Heaven’s water and heat produce?
As God put desire in man and woman to the end

that the world should be preserved by their union,
So hath He implanted in every part of existence the desire for another part.
Day and Night are enemies outwardly; yet both serve one purpose,
Each in love with the other for the sake of perfecting their mutual work,
Without Night, the nature of Man would receive no income, so there would be nothing for Day to spend.

(Jalaluddin Rumi—a Sufi)