Ramon Llul, The Book of the Lover and the Beloved, tr. E. Allison Peers (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1923), 23-24:
Long and perilous are the paths by which the Lover seeks his Beloved. They are peopled by cares, sighs and tears. They are lit up by love.
Many Lovers came together to love One only, their Beloved, who made them all to abound in love. And each declared his Beloved perfection, and his thoughts of Him were very pleasant, making him to suffer pain which brought delight.
The Lover wept and said: ‘How long shall it be till the darkness of the world is past, that the mad rush of men towards hell may cease? When comes the hour in which water, that flows downwards, shall change its nature and mount upwards? When shall the innocent be more in number than the guilty? Ah! When shall the Lover with joy lay down his life for the Beloved? And when shall the Beloved see the Lover grow faint for love of Him?’
Said the Lover to the Beloved: ‘Thou that filled the sun with splendour, fill my heart with love.’ And the Beloved answered: ‘Wert thou not filled with love, thine eyes had not shed those tears, nor hadst thou come to this place to see thy Beloved.’
The Beloved made trial of His Lover to see if his love for Him were perfect, and He asked him how the presence of the Beloved differed from His absence. The Lover answered: ‘As knowledge and remembrance differ from ignorance and oblivion.’
The Beloved asked the Lover: ‘Hast thou remembrance of anything with which I have rewarded thee, that thou wouldst love Me thus?’ ‘Yea,’ replied the Lover, ‘for I distinguish not between the trials that Thou sendest me and the joys.’
‘Say, O Lover,’ asked the Beloved, ‘if I double thy trials, wilt thou Still be patient?’ ‘Yea,’ answered the Lover, ‘so that Thou double also my love.’
Said the Beloved to the Lover: ‘Knowest thou yet what love meaneth?’ The Lover replied: ‘If I knew not the meaning of love, I should know the meaning of labour, grief and sorrow.’
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