Stay Close By the Door
A poem
of
Rabia Al ‘Adawiyya
Stay
close by the door, if you desire all Beauty
And leave
aside sleep, if you wish to arrive
And make
of the spirit your first place of account
To the
Beloved, Whose Light shines as from gold
All of
them worship out of fear of the fire –
And
consider deliverance abundant good fortune -
Or, so they
may dwell in the gardens, and reach
To the
meadows of paradise, and there drink from its rivers
Of gardens
or fire I have no opinion
I seek no
exchange for my Dearest Love