Disillusionment
This Rumi poem turns to a realized being:
از کفر و ز اسلام برون صحرائیست
ما را به میان آن فضا سودائیست
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Out beyond right and wrong*,
there is a desert
The desert beckons us
as if it were the oasis
We long to hold one another
in its lush grass
and drink from the clear spring
The moon whispers in my ear:
I have one foot in that desert
But don’t ask me to meet you there
For in that desert of disillusionment,
just as with right and wrong,
you and I and even oneness
cease to exist
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*In the original text, Rumi uses “idolatry” for wrong and “Islam” for right
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