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LOVE'S HIGHEST STAGE
If I have been born for the first time, so what?
If for more than the umpteenth time, so what?
Why ponder on myself so much all the time,
Why forget my Beloved One? For whom and for what?
The world is beautiful because my Beloved made it,
And life too is precious because my Beloved made it,
Why lament about yesterday or worry for tomorrow?
When time too is what my Beloved made it.
For paradise does the old preacher pray,
Fearing hellfire he toils night and day,
His worship fails to comprehend my Beloved,
Why bow behind him who is ignorant, astray?
Pastors talk of Jesus and Brahmins call Ram,
Atheists mock them both with a lazy yawn,
Jews implore Ezra and Parsis pray to fire,
I worship my Beloved like none of them can.
My love for my Beloved One is always supreme,
It's an evergreen tree with an eternal theme,
Fools around me are engrossed with idols,
But my love for my Beloved is untainted, pure, clean.
I don't bend mechanically to the call of the frail,
That comes from stoned towers like a hyena's wail,
I am different, like Abraham*, like Muhammad*, Mansoor*,
My worship for my Beloved is love's loftiest sail.
Never for once am I apart from the One Whom I love,
My heart, mind, body and soul, do always bow,
With reverence and ethereal admiration,
My Beloved is greatest...the fools don't know how!
