quatrain 334

From sunlight, two versions of quatrain #334 to add to the Houshmand version discussed at living without me:

The Beloved looked at me
With compassion and said,
How can you go on living without me?
I said, I swear, like a fish out of water.
He said, Then why do you hold so tight
to the dry land?

Version by Jonathan Star and Shahram Shiva
A Garden Beyond Paradise

After being with me one whole night,
you ask how I live when you're not here.
Badly, frantically, like a fish trying to
breathe dry sand.
You weep and say,
but you choose that.

Version by Coleman Barks
"Unseen Rain"