The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys

The Four Valleys

When once thy name was on the tongue, the lovers caught it
And it set the speakers and the hearers dancing to and fro.7

And of divine wisdom and heavenly counsel, [Rúmí says]:

Each moon, O my beloved, for three days I go mad;
Today’s the first of these—’Tis why thou seest me glad.

We hear that thou hast journeyed to Tabríz and Tiflís to disseminate knowledge, or that some other high purpose hath taken thee to Sanandaj.8, 9

O My eminent friend! Those who progress in mystic wayfaring are of four kinds. I shall describe them in brief, that the grades and qualities of each kind may become plain to thee.

7 Ibid.

8 Senna, capital of Persian Kurdistán.

9 This preamble to The Four Valleys is written in the finest Persian epistolary style. The rules of classical letter writing in Persian require quotations from literary works, and assertions of abiding love for the one addressed, who is chided for having neglected the writer.