O Lovers.....by Rumi

O lovers
Love will lay a carpet
of treasures under your feet.

Musicians
Love will fill
your drums with gold.

Thirsty ones
Love will turn your scorched desert
into a meadow of paradise.

Forsaken ones
Love will open
the doors to the King's palace.

Alchemists
Love's alchemy
will reshape gallows into altars.

Sinners
Love will change
your apathy to faith.

Kings of the world
in love's hands
you will melt like a candle.

To the parched lips of those
who are willing to surrender

Love will bring the wine
that changes darkness into vision,
cruelty into compassion
and dust into precious incense.

Those who think
the heart is only in the chest
take two or three steps
and are content.

The rosary,
the prayer rug and repentance
are paths
that they mistake for the destination.

~ Rumi
-- Translation by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Hidden Music
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001