My Soaring Ascent

Lesson 350: My Soaring Ascent

When on the day of my death you carry my bier
Do not imagine my heart has remained in this world.
Do not weep over me, do not say: "Oh, how sad, how sad!"
That would be tumbling into the trap of the devil and that would be sad.
When you see my corpse laid out, don't cry out: "He has gone!"
For union and meeting will then be mine forever.
And as you lower me into my tomb, do not say: "Farewell."
For the tomb veils from us the union of paradise.
My decline you have seen, now discover my soaring ascent!

- Jalal-ud-Din Rumi

(Translated by Andrew Harvey from A Year of Rumi)