When I am with you, we stay up all night.
When you’re not here, I can’t go to sleep.
Praise God for these two insomnias!
And the difference between them.
This poem describes the feelings of lovers – when they meet they don’t want to sleep – they would rather do other things and not waste their time sleeping.
And when they are not together, they cannot sleep because they miss the other and are lost in thoughts of their lover – due to which the brain cannot relax and they cannot sleep.
Rumi thanks God for these feelings and these two different reasons for having this insomnia. He is basically emphasizing what a wondrous thing love is! In love one can enjoy being apart as much as being together. As love is the core feeling which is given by God and takes us near God as well.
Taken from The Essential Rumi
translated by Coleman Barks
Image credit : Google Images
Read between the lines 