Man was, therefore, a part of God, because he was a fragment of the Whole; or, better still, he was a divine emanation.[6] The Súfí recognised this fact, and his supreme desire was to be reunited with the Beloved. His difficulty, however, was to bear in mind that his worship should ever be of God, and not of God's many beautiful forms. Love came into his heart, and he endeavoured to recognise that earthly objects, however dear and beautiful they might be, were but lanterns where God's Light shone through. Here it must be readily admitted that Súfíism often fails. The Súfí poets were much given to excessive laudations of physical beauty, and we often find, with all the toleration and ingenuity we can bring to bear, that some of Háfiz's lines are no more spiritual than Anacreon's, to whom he has been compared. We have a number of Súfí words with a strictly Súfí meaning; but it would not be wise to strain the analogy of earthly love too far and say that everything that Háfiz wrote was spiritual. The Súfí poets, for the most part, wrote about the Love of God in the terms applied to their beautiful women, for the simple reason that no one can write the celestial language and be understood at the same time. Is it to be wondered at that the Súfís, still remembering their old love-songs, their old earthly delights in women dear to them, should find it difficult _not_ to apply such names, such ideas even in their love of the One Beloved? Take those expressions literally and many of them are sensuous, but consider them as brave, strong strivings, fraught with much spiritual fervour, after God, and you at once annihilate prejudice and come very near understanding the meaning of Súfíism. We need not fly to Mrs. Grundy and seek shelter under her hypocritical wing when some really devout and sincere Súfí calls God "the Eternal Darling" or sings about the Beloved's curls. In studying Súfíism from Súfí poetry we must always remember that Eastern poetry is essentially erotic in expression, but just as essentially symbolic in _meaning_. We must also bear in mind--and this point must have had its influence upon Súfíism--that the Muslim's reward for having lived a good life, according to the teaching of Mohammed, was that he should enjoy an eternal _liaison_ with lovely _houris_.