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Love plays its lute behind the screen by Fakhruddin Iraqi (? - 1289) Timeline English version by William Chittick and Peter Lamborn Wilson Original Language Persian/Farsi Muslim / Sufi 13th Century Love plays its lute behind the screen -- where is a lover to listen to its tune? With every breath a new song, each split second a new string plucked. The world has spilled Love's secret -- when could music ever hold its tongue? Every atom babbles the mystery -- Listen yourself, for I'm no tattletale!     -- from Fakhruddin Iraqi: Divine Flashes (Classics of Western Spirituality) , by William Chittick / Nasr Seyyed Hossein Amazon.com   / Photo by angela7dreams /	Themes   Lover and Beloved   Sound       Recommended Books The Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry, Translated by Peter Lamborn Wilson / Translated by Nasrollah Pourjavady Fakhruddin Iraqi: Divine Flashes (Classics of Western Spirituality) , by William Chittick / Nasr Seyyed Hossein Love's Alchemy: Poems from the Sufi Tradition, Translated by David Fideler / Translated by Sabrineh Fideler Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty, Edited by Alan Jacobs
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Commentary by Ivan M. Granger

I like the double meaning of this poem's first couplet:

Love plays its lute behind the screen --
where is a lover to listen to its tune?

On the one hand, Iraqi is chiding the world for not producing enough lovers of God. Love is eternally calling to us with its soft music "behind the screen" of reality, but few are actually listening; lovers can't be found.

On a deeper level, it is understood that the true lover has no substance, because he or she is utterly merged into the Beloved, God. So, even where there are lovers, there are no lovers found.

Whoever thinks Divine Love is just hypothetical, isn't really listening. "The world has spilled Love's secret --" "Every atom babbles the mystery --"

Listen yourself, for I'm no tattletale!

Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are Copyright © 2002 - 2011 by Ivan M. Granger.
All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers.