"A Sleep and a Forgetting"

One who has lived many years in the city, so soon he goes to sleep,
Beholds another city full of good and evil, and his own city vanishes from his mind.
He does not say to himself, "This is a new city: I am a stranger here";
Nay he thinks he has always lived in this city and was born and bred in it.
What wonder then, if the soul does not remember her ancient abode and birth-place,
Since she is wrapt in the slumber of the world, like a star covered by clouds? --
Especially as she has trodden so many cities and the dust that darkens her vision is not yet swept away.

- Jalalu'l-Din Rumi