Love of God

When I come to love, I am ashamed
of all that I have ever said about love.
~ Rumi

"They said: “You are crazy in love!”
I said: “May God increase my Love.”
They said: “But your being has vanished.”
I said: “It’s not in me, God knows.”
They said: “You are filled!”
I said: “I wish I were empty.”
They said: “You are burned out!”
I said: “I wish I were ash!”
They said: “You are fading.”
I said: “I wish I had died.”
They said: “But you are dead.”
I said: “Insh’allah.”
“The cup,” they said.
“Let me be quenched,” I said.
“Drink!” they said.
“Let me turn, ” I said.
“The moth,” they said.
“Let me burn,” I said.
“Fool!” they said.
“So be it! It comes from God,” I said.
They said, “O Zeynep, you will be heartbroken,
drunk on love for the rose, like the nightingale.
In the end you will go mad in the way of truth.”
I said, “What can I do? It’s up to God.”