You are my
intimate friend
my
aspiration
my joy
My heart
refuses
to love
other than you
O my dear
my
aspiration
all I desire
. . .
My yearning
for you
grows and
grows
when can I
see you?
I desire not
that Lofty
Paradise
All I desire
is to see
your face
****************
'Do not become intimate with the One whose sight you long
for,
For you will be prevented from finding Him in the darkness.
Strive and persevere, and be in the night as one
who sorrows,
And He will pour you a glass of love from His glory and generosity.'
**************
[The present poem and saying is attributed to Rayhaanah 'al- Majnuna' - literally, one who is divinely-possessed/'enraptured'; an Iraqi female mystic from the eighth century. Apparently, this ascetic from Basra had this poem inscribed inside her collar. Cited from al-Sulami’s Dhikr al-muta‘abbidat al-sufiyyat, ed. by R. E. Cornell, Early Sufi Women, USA: Fons Vitae (1999), p.95].