The Anguish of Love

O ancient temple, there hath risen for you a light that gleams in our hearts.

I complain to thee of the deserts which I crossed, where I let my tears flow unchecked,

Taking no joy in rest at dawn or dusk, continuing from morn to morn and passing from eve to eve.

Truly, the camels, even if they suffer from footsoreness, journey by night and make haste in their journey.

These beasts of burden carried us to you with eager desire, though they did not hope to attain thereby.

They traversed wildernesses and well nigh rainless lands, impelled by passion, but they did not therefore complain of fatigue.

They did not complain of the anguish of love, and 'tis I who complain of fatigue.

Indeed, I have claimed something absurd.

~ Ibn al-'Arabi

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Those who believe that they believe in God, but without passion in their hearts, without anguish in mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, without an element of despair even in their consolation, believe only in the God idea, not God Himself. ~ Miguel de Unamuno