This Bewildered Heart

"Ease is accompanied by difficulty; come, do not despair: through this death you have the way into life....
Illusion bars the way of every seeker, saying, "There is no admission", every delusion confronts the seeker and says "Stop!"
Except, indeed, that person of sharp hearing and keen intelligence who possesses enthusiasm...
He does not recoil from the illusions which bar the way, nor is he checked: he shows the King's token; then a way is made for him to enter.
O God, bestow forethought on this bewildered heart, and bestow the arrow of resolution, on these bows bent double.
From that hidden goblet of Yours, you have poured out of the cup of the Saints, a drink over the dusty earth.
It is the drinking in of Divine beauty, mingled in the lovely earth--that you are kissing with a hundred hearts, day and night.
Since this drop, when mingled with dust, makes you mad, think how its pure essence would affect you!
One drop is poured on gold and rubies and pearls; one drop is poured on wine and dessert and fruits;
One drop on the face of the charming and fair; consider then, how marvelous must be that pure wine!
Inasmuch as you rub your tongue, even on this earthly drink, how enamored of it will you be, when you taste it without the clay!"

Rumi (Vol. 5, 361-382)

Commentary: Rumi insists that there is much more joy ahead, for all of us.