quatrain 61

From sunlight, two versions of quatrain #61:

If you have a spirit, lose it,
lose it to return where with one word,
we came from. Now, thousands of words,
and we refuse to leave.

-- Version by Coleman Barks
"Unseen Rain"
Threshold Books, 1986

If you have illusions about heaven
lose them.
The soul heard of one attribute of Love
and came to earth.
A hundred attributes of heaven
could never charm her back.
It is here the soul discovers
the reality of Love.

-- Translation by Azima Melita Kolin
and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Whispers of the Beloved
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 1999