The Friend Who Said 'I'

Rumi

A certain man knocked at his friend's door:
his friend asked, 'Who is there?'
He answered, 'I.'
'Begone,' said his friend, 'tis too soon:
at my table there is no place for the raw.'

How shall the raw one be cooked but in the fire of absence?
What else will deliver him from hypocrisy?

He turned sadly away, and for a whole year
the flames of separation consumed him;

Then he came back and again paced to and fro
beside the house of his friend.
He knocked at the door with a hundred fears and reverences,
lest any disrespectful word might escape from his lips.

'Who is there?' cried his friend.
He answered, 'Thou, O charmer of all hearts!'
'Now,' said the friend, 'since thou art I,
come in: there is no room for two I's in this house.'