The Story of the Pious Man of Discernment

There was a man like me whose heart lay pawned in someone's hands, and he suffered endless humiliation. For all his wisdom and good sense, they beat him publicly, branding him a madman. You endured cruelty from your enemy for your friend's sake, for the great antidote turns out to be the beloved's poison. You took blows from your own companions, offering your forehead like a nail set out to be struck. Her image threw such turmoil into his head that it trampled the very roof of his mind. He had no notice of his friends' mockery, for a drowning man cannot notice the rain. Whoever has stubbed the foot of his heart on a stone no longer worries about the fragile glass of reputation and shame. One night a demon made itself into the shape of a fairy, embraced that man, and overpowered him. At dawn he had no time even for prayer, and none of his friends knew his secret. He plunged into water near the rooftop, while the cold had shut a marble door against him. An adviser began to blame him: 'You are killing yourself in this freezing water.' A cry rose from the fair minded young man: 'My friend, how long will you scold? Be quiet.' For five short days this boy has beguiled my heart; his love has left me unable to bear the separation. He never once asked after me with a kind word, yet see what a burden I carry in my soul for him. Then the One who shaped my body from dust and by His power breathed a pure soul into it, would you find it strange if I bore the burden of His command, when I live always in His kindness and grace?