usage of the wise to express My regard anew, yet this new love hath broken
all the old rules and ways.

Tell us not the tale of Laylí or of Majnún’s woe—
Thy love hath made the world forget the loves of long ago.
When once thy name was on the tongue, the lovers caught it
And it set the speakers and the hearers dancing to and fro.(87)

And of divine wisdom and heavenly counsel, [Rúmí says]:

Each moon, O my beloved, for three days I go mad;
Today’s the first of these—’Tis why thou seest me glad.

We hear that thou hast journeyed to Tabríz and Tiflis to disseminate
knowledge, or that some other high purpose hath taken thee to
Sanandaj.(88), (89)

O My eminent friend! Those who progress in mystic wayfaring are of four
kinds. I shall describe them in brief, that the grades and qualities of
each kind may become plain to thee.




The First Valley


If the travelers seek after the goal of the Intended One (maqsúd), this
station appertaineth to the self—but that self which is “The Self of God
standing within Him with laws.”(90)