Love is not condescending, never
that, nor books, nor any marking
on paper, nor what people say of
each other. Love is a tree with
branches reaching into eternity
and roots set deep in eternity,
and no trunk! Have you seen it?
The mind cannot. Your desiring
cannot. The longing you feel for
this love comes from inside you.
When you become the Friend, your
longing will be as the man in the
ocean who holds to a piece of
wood. Eventually wood, man, and
ocean become one swaying being.
- Rumi, translated by Coleman Barks