I say o’er to thee the message of the Sage of Rúm:[97]
“Knowledge, if it lie on thy skin, is a snake;
Knowledge, if thou take it to heart, is a friend.”
Hast thou heard how the Master of Rúm 1415
Gave lectures on philosophy at Aleppo?—
Fast in the bonds of intellectual proofs,
Drifting o’er the dark and stormy sea of understanding;
A Moses unillumined by Love’s Sinai,
Ignorant of Love and of Love’s passion. 1420
He discoursed on Scepticism and Neoplatonism,