city. And when thou hast attained this highest station and come to this
mightiest plane, then shalt thou gaze on the Beloved, and forget all else.

The Beloved shineth on gate and wall
Without a veil, O men of vision.(68)

Now hast thou abandoned the drop of life and come to the sea of the
Life-Bestower. This is the goal thou didst ask for; if it be God’s will,
thou wilt gain it.

In this city, even the veils of light are split asunder and vanish away.
“His beauty hath no veiling save light, His face no covering save
revelation.”(69) How strange that while the Beloved is visible as the sun,
yet the heedless still hunt after tinsel and base metal. Yea, the
intensity of His revelation hath covered Him, and the fullness of His
shining forth hath hidden Him.

Even as the sun, bright hath He shined,
But alas, He hath come to the town of the blind!(70)

In this Valley, the wayfarer leaveth behind him the stages of the “oneness
of Being and Manifestation”(71) and reacheth a oneness that is sanctified
above these two stations. Ecstasy alone can encompass this theme, not
utterance nor argument; and whosoever hath dwelt at this stage of the
journey, or caught a breath from this garden land, knoweth whereof We
speak.

In all these journeys the traveler must stray not the breadth of a hair
from the “Law,” for this is indeed the secret of the “Path” and the fruit
of the Tree of “Truth”; and in all these stages he must cling to the robe