Houris
by Rumi, translated by William C. Chittick

If anyone asks you about houris, show your face and say, “Like this.”

If anyone speaks to you about the moon, rise up beyond the roof and say, “Like this.”

When someone looks for a fairy princess, show your face to him.

When someone talks of musk, let loose your tresses and say, “Like this.”

If someone says to you, “How do clouds part from the moon?”

Undo your robe, button by button, and say, “Like this.”

If he asks you about the Messiah, “How could he bring the dead to life?”

Kiss my lips before him and say, “Like this.”

When someone says, “Tell me, what does it mean to be killed by love?”

Show my soul to him and say, “Like this.”

If someone in concern asks you about my state,

Show him your eyebrow, bent over double, and say, “Like this.”

The spirit breaks away from the body, then again it enters within.

Come, show the deniers, enter the house and say, “Like this.”

In whatever direction you hear the complaint of a lover,

That is my story, all of it, by God, like this.

I am the house of every angel, my breast has turned blue like the sky-

Lift up your eyes and look with joy at heaven, like this.

I told the secret of union with the Beloved to the east wind alone.

Then, through the purity of its own mystery, the east wind whispered, “Like this.”

Those are blind who say, “How can the servant reach God?”

Place the candle of purity in the hand of each and say, “Like this.”

I said, “How can the fragrance of Joseph go from one city to the next?”

The fragrance of God blew from the world of his Essence and said, “Like this.”

I said, “How can the fragrance of Joseph give sight back to the blind?”

Your breeze came and gave light to my eye: “Like this.”

Perhaps Shams al Din in Tabriz will show his generosity,
and in his kindness display his good faith, like this.

Rumi, Diwan, ghazal #1827