People are distracted by objects of desire,
and afterward 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 ascent 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 they are enjoying themselves,
but they are really tearing out their wings
for the sake of an illusion.
- Jelaluddin Rumi (1207-1273)
