“Throw away your poetry and come to the stars!”

Do not remain a man of intellect among the lovers,
especially if you love that sweet-faced Beloved.
 

May the men of intellect stay far from the lovers,
may the smell of dung stay far from the east wind!
 

If a man of intellect should enter, tell him the way
is blocked; but if a lover should come, extend him a
hundred welcomes!
 

By the time intellect has deliberated and reflected,
love has flown to the seventh heaven.
 

By the time intellect has found a camel for the
hajj, love has circled the Kaaba.
 

Love has come and covered my mouth: 

“Throw away your poetry and come to the stars!”

Ode 182
Translation by William C. Chittick
The Sufi Path of Love - The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi
State University of New York Press, Albany, 1983