V. The Lion and the Beasts.
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Jalal al-Din Rumi, Maulana and Redhouse, James W. (James William), Sir
It is thyself against whom thou mak’st thy attack;
Just as the lion took the hare upon his back.
If thou’d sound deep to bottom of the moral well.
Thyself thou’dst find there; thy own acts would plainly tell.
The lion at the bottom found out who was there.
Let him as likeness serve of many who are here.
Whoe’er beats out the teeth of weaker than himself,
Commits the lion’s error;—springs upon himself.
O thou who loath’st a mole upon thy neighbour’s cheek,
Reflect. ’Tis but an image. Thy own features seek.445
Believers are as mirrors; each sees self in each.
So said the Prophet. His words to us truth may teach.
Thou wearest spectacles, of blue, or red, or green;
And thence thou judgest all is tinged with that sheen.
If thou wilt use a window glazed with coloured glass,
Thou may’st expect the sun will seem of that same class.
If thou’rt not mad, thou’lt know the colour is thy own.
Thyself call evil. Henceforth others leave alone.
Believers see with eye of faith,—the light of God.
How else to them were visible all things’ synod?450
If thou examine things with hell-fire in thy heart,
How canst thou see distinct the good and bad apart.
Seek by degrees to drown that fire in holy light.
So shalt thou, sinner, soon, thy weakness change for might.
And do Thou, Lord, asperge from mercy’s cleansing stream,
To change the fire of sin to light of faith supreme.
The ocean’s waters are a mere drop in Thy hand;
The streams of mercy, fire of wrath, at Thy command.
If Thou so will, the fire a pleasant stream may be.
And at Thy word, a lake a fiery pit we’d see.455
From Thee spring our devotions, supplications, prayers.
’Tis Thou deliverest the victims from their slayers.
Without our supplication, Thou entreaty gavest.
The stores of Thy great mercy for all men Thou savest.
The hare, for his deliverance, jubilant set out,
To join his fellows, scattered in their homes about.
He saw the lion prone at bottom of the well;
Then rapidly went back his stratagem to tell.
He clapped his hands for joy at his escape from death,
Exuberant as plant sprouts from the earth beneath.460