Cast away...

"Cast away your existence entirely,

for it is nothing but weeds and refuse.

Go, clear out your heart's chamber;

arrange it as the abiding-place of the Beloved.

When you go forth, He will come in,

and to you, with self discarded,

He will unveil His beauty."



Mahmud Shabistari
"The Beloved Guest"
from _The Secret Rose Garden_
Translated by Florence Lederer / Edited by David Fideler
Grands Rapids, MI: Phanes, 2002, p. 85