In this poem from Attar's Mokhtar Nameh, the poet employs the candle as a powerful mystical metaphor for the human soul in its quest for divine love. The burning of the candle's thread symbolizes the voluntary suffering and eventual annihilation (fana) of the lover's individual identity in the presence of the Beloved. The 'pain of the heart' (dard-e del) and the 'burning of love' (suz-e eshq) are not seen as mere afflictions, but as the essential guiding thread (sar-reshteh) that directs the bewildered soul through the mystical journey.