Becoming The Food Of The Souls

From these depths depart towards heaven; 
may your soul be happy, journey joyfully. 
You have escaped from the city full of fear and trembling; 
happily become a resident of the Abode of Security. 
If the body’s image has gone, await the image-maker; 
if the body is utterly ruined, become all soul. 
If your face has become saffron pale through death, 
become a dweller among tulip beds and Judas trees. 
If the doors of repose have been barred to you, come, 
depart by way of the roof and the ladder. 
If you are alone from Friends and companions, 
by the help of God become a saheb-qeran (lord of happy circumstance). 
If you have been secluded from water and bread, 
like bread become the food of the souls, and so become! 

Mystical Poems of Rumi 2, A. J. Arberry The University of Chicago Press, 1991