.
.
Lovers find secret places inside this violent world
where they make transactions with beauty.
.
Reason says, Nonsense.
I have walked and measured the walls here.
There are no places like that.
.
Love says, There are.
.
Reason set up a market and begins doing business.
Love has more hidden work.
.
Hallaj steps away from the pulpit
and climbs the stairs of the gallows.
.
Lovers feel a truth inside themselves
that rational people keep denying.
.
It is reasonable to say, Surrender is just an idea
that keeps people from living their lives.
.
Love responds, No.
This thinking is what is dangerous.
.
Using language obscures what Shams came to give.
out of low word-clouds into burning silence.
.
~ Rumi
from The Big Red Book
translations by Coleman Barks
