VII. The Merchant and the Parrot.
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Jalal al-Din Rumi, Maulana and Redhouse, James W. (James William), Sir
My state is just one very often not seen;
Contest not; truth’s ever victorious been.
Think not my state that of all these common men;
Be not benefactor, to tyrannise then.
If kindness and tyranny, joy, grief, are new;
All new things must die. God inherits.231 That’s true.
’Tis dawn. O of dawn Thou who art the sole cause!
Excuse for me make to Husāmu-’d-Dīn’s laws.232
Excuses for angels and souls Thou canst see;
Thou art the soul’s life; coral’s shine is from Thee.233265
From Thy light have sprung men and brightness of dawn.234
We’re all aided by Thee, Thou cup of wine drawn.
Why does Thy gift keep me in constant suspense;—
Thy spiritual wine, that still charms ev’ry sense.
A beggar from me’s wine in fermentation!
Spheres lessons take from me in revolution!
With me wine gets drunk; I get not drunk with it.
From me body grows; I spring thence not one bit.
We’re bees, all of us; and our bodies, the wax;
With it we build cells to conceal our dark tracks.270
These considerations would grow longer still.
We’ll turn to our merchant. We left him so ill.
He thus, lamentations, sad groans, sadder moans,
Shot forth, with sighs, burning;—grieved hearts’ crater-stones.
Complaints, contradictions, petitions, like words,
Now literal, then keen metaphors, sharp as swords.
The drowning, ’tis known to each one who breath draws,
To save threatened life, will, though vain, grasp at straws;
In hopes that some aid to his rescue will come,
He struggles, he flounders, he thinks of his home.275
His sweetheart takes pleasure his struggles to see;
An effort’s more noble than despondency.
A bridegroom is, surely, not quite free from cares.
His moans we expect not. Pain’s not what he fears.
The reason this, why the Lord’s blest scripture says:
“Each day He’s engaged in some one of His ways.”235
Therefore thou, my dear son, thyself still exert
Until thy last breath. Seek not toil to avert.
Then, at the last moment, the time may have come,
When favor ’ll be shown thee for all thou hast done.280