In The Spirit Of Rumi-16 Poem by Michael Shepherd

I said to My Beloved

How, my dearest one,
do you know those who truly love You?

My Beloved said

Not by their smiling face,
nor by their eagerness;
nor by the quickness of their response,
nor by the force and wealth of their response
pleasing though these are –

but by their stillness: as
a rose is still; or as a fine-proportioned vase is still;
or as a sunlit golden dome is still;
or as the bluest vault of heaven is still;

they have a stillness all about them; for
their hearts are ever at rest; there is no need
for their still heart to move; they are
always the same; they rest in love;
they meet you with all love,
they greet you with all love;
you cannot add to their true love,
you cannot take away from their true love;

and if you wish to test their love,
the test is constancy; there is no change in them;
they speak, they feel, they act, from constancy;
what is their substance? It is constancy;
I stand with them in constancy,
they stand with Me in constancy..

if that is not what you would ask of them in love,
then they are not for you; but they,
they are My true lovers, lovers of the truth in Me

-said My Beloved.