Omar Khayyam 18

Juan Cole 02/03/2012

If you are looking for love,
try to attract every heart.
On the path of the Presence,
try to entice every seeker.
A hundred holy shrines made
of water and clay
are not worth a single heart.
Why make pilgrimage
to a shrine
when you can attract a heart?

Trans. Juan Cole
From Whinfield 18
revised

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment and Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan. He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires. Follow him at @jricole.