A Sleep and A Forgetting

One who has lived many years in a city,
As soon as he goes to sleep,

Beholds another city full of good and evil,
And his own vanishes from his mind.

He does not say to himself
“This is a new city: I am a stranger here”,
He thinks he has always lived in this city
And was born and bred in it.
What wonder, then, if the soul does not remember
Her ancient abode and birthplace?


Since she is wrapped in the slumber of this world,
Like a star covered by clouds


Especially as she has trodden so many cities
And the dust that darkens her vision
Is not yet swept away…

---Rumi-----