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When I compare what I have lost with what I have gained, What I have missed with what attained, Little room do I find for pride. I am aware How many days have been idly spent, How like an arrow the good intent Has fallen short or been turned aside. But who shall dare To measure loss and gain in this wise? Defeat may be victory in disguise, The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide ~ Longfellow

wings of desire

Wings of Desire People are distracted by objects of desire,
and afterwards repent of the lust they’ve indulged,
because they have indulged with a phantom and are left even farther from Reality than before. Your desire for the illusory could be a wing,
by means of which a seeker might ascend to Reality.
When you have indulged a lust, your wing drops off;
you become lame, abandoned by a fantasy.
Preserve the wing and don’t indulge such lust,
so that the wing of desire may bear you to Paradise.
People fancy that they are enjoying themselves,
but they are really tearing out their wings for the sake of an illusion.

(Mathnawi III.2133-2138)