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What is the meaning of the following quote from Rumi? I was reading his The Book of Love: Poems of Ecstasy and Longing and came across this quote:

Love is an open secret, the most obvious thing in the world and the most hidden, with no why to how it keeps its mystery.

I read the first part and understand what he means but then I get lost in translation. I don't understand what he meant, especially in "with no why to how it keeps its mystery".

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    A general note on The Book of Love and other such "translations" of Rumi: this collection was authored by Coleman Banks who does not speak or read Persian. He does not translate Rumi, he paraphrases or reinterprets English translations of Rumi. These reinterpretations are often quite far from the original texts. In such cases, it probably makes more sense to ask what Coleman Banks meant here, than what Rumi meant. The "Criticism" section of this Wikipedia article is informative.
    – Juhasz
    Nov 30, 2021 at 17:52
  • @Juhasz thank you for your note. It would still be nice to know, what the poem by Rumi or Banks really means. P.s: If you know where I can find the original Rumi collection, I would be thankful.
    – Maybeline Lee
    Nov 30, 2021 at 20:00
  • I don't personally have an opinion about what the Barks (sorry about that typo in the previous comment - it's Coleman Barks) interpretation is supposed to mean. As to where to find the original, that's a little tricky. Does the version you're looking at have the name of the original poem? Most of Rumi's poetry was published in his two major works, The Masnavi and Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi. You can find a Persian and English version of The Masnavi here. At least some of the Divan is here
    – Juhasz
    Dec 1, 2021 at 18:57

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