Wings of Desire

People are distracted by objects of desire,

and afterwards repent of the lust they’ve indulged,

because they have indulged with a phantom

and are left even farther from Reality than before.

Your desire for the illusory could be a wing,

by means of which a seeker might ascend to Reality.

When you have indulged a lust, 

your wing drops off;

you become lame, 

abandoned by a fantasy.

Preserve the wing and don’t indulge such lust,

so that the wing of desire may bear you to Paradise.

People fancy that they are enjoying themselves,

but they are really tearing out their wings 

for the sake of an illusion.

Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi

Mathnawi III,

2133-2138