1240-1321 AD
Dear friends, listen to me now,
Love's like the shining sun,
A heart without love
Is nothing more than a stone.
What rises up in a stony heart?
No matter how softly it begins,
The tongue's soft words
Soon turn to war when poison spews.
A loving heart burns and burns,
Then it melts like wax in the flame,
But a heart that is hard as stone
Is like winter, dark and mean and cold.
In the service of this Sultan,
In the presence of this Lord of might,
The star of all lovers shines
Like a faithful, royal servant.
Now Yunus, let your fears vanish
While flowering illusions of this world fade,
A true man first needs love, and from
Then on he is no different from a dervish.