Plurality & Unity

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Shaykh Farid ad-Din ‘Aththar Abu Hamid ibn Abu Bakr Ibrahim (q.s.) wrote, in Manthiq ath-Thayr: 

“A girl fell in a river – in a flash,

Her lover dived in with a mighty splash,

And fought the current until he reached her side.

When they are safe again, the poor girl cried,

‘By chance I tumbled in, but why should you,

Come after me and hazard your life too?’

He said, ‘I dived because the difference

Of ‘I’ and ‘you’ to lovers make no sense –

A long time passed when we were separate,

But now that we have reached this single state,

When you are me and I am wholly you.

What use is to talk of us two?’

All talk of two implies plurality –

When ‘two’ has gone, there will be Unity.”