The bird is flying on high, and its shadow is speeding on the earth,
flying like a bird:
Some fool begins to chase the shadow,
running so far that he becomes powerless,
Not knowing that it is the reflection of that bird in the air,
not knowing where is the origin of the shadow.
He shoots arrows at the shadow;
his quiver is emptied in seeking:
The quiver of his life became empty:
his life passed in running hotly in chase of the shadow.
When the shadow of God is his nurse,
it delivers him from phantom and shadow.
The shadow of God is that servant of God
who is dead to this world and living through God.
Lay hold of his skirt most quickly without misgiving
that you may be saved in the skirt of the last days.
How He extended the shadow is the form of the saints,
which guides to the light of the Divine Sun.
(Rumi)