The Language of Love

"A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou, my Love." When Omar Khayyam wrote these words in his mystical poem, the Rubaiyat, he used the ancient symbols of a universal love code that is also found in the Biblical Song of Songs, the Troubadours, Mira Bai, Jayadev, Kabir, Hafiz and Rumi. Jesus certainly used this love code in his wedding parables.

Lest we fall into worldly delusion, we must understand how to interpret these symbols correctly: The "loaf of bread" represents bread. I recommend a whole-grain loaf with garlic, rosemary and olive oil. The "jug of wine" represents wine. I recommend a hearty Cabernet. "Thou, my Love" represents a gorgeous woman. This is not a matter of speculation: you must experience the reality to understand.

Before one enters the Path, the world is as it is, and there are no metaphors. Entering the Path, the world shimmers with metaphor: all creatures symbolize an inner reality. But when one finally stumbles on the goal, one realizes that there never was a Path, and there are no metaphors. Things are just what they are, but lit from within by the marvelous light of Emptiness.

I played tennis with Hafiz today. One of us was drunk. We played long into the night, in pitch darkness. Every game went to deuce. The match didn't end til dawn and I won't tell who won. Leaning on each others shoulders, we wandered home singing songs that made farm maidens blush and drop their buckets of milk.