Love seizeth not upon a living soul,
The falcon preyeth not on a dead mouse. [Persian mystic poem. Cf. The Hidden Words, No. 7,
Arabic.]
Love setteth a world aflame at every turn, and he wasteth
every land where he carrieth his banner. Being hath no existence in his
kingdom; the wise wield no command within his realm. The leviathan of love
swalloweth the master of reason and destroyeth the lord of knowledge. He
drinketh the seven seas, but his heart’s thirst is still unquenched, and he
saith, “Is there yet any more?” [Qur’án 50:29] He shunneth himself and draweth away
from all on earth. (Baha’u’llah, ‘The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys’)
