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Masnavi I, 61-78
When from the depths of his soul he raised a cry (of
supplication),
the sea of Bounty began to surge.
Slumber overtook him in the midst of weeping: he dreamed
That an old man appeared
And said, "Good tidings, O king! Thy prayers are granted.
If tomorrow a stranger come for thee, he is from me.
When he comes, he is the skilled physician: deem him
Veracious, for he is trusty and true.
In his remedy behold absolute magic, in his temperament
Behold the might of God!"
When the promised hour arrived and day broke and the sun,
(rising) from the east, began to burn the stars,
The king was in belvedere, expecting to see that which
Had been shown mysteriously.
He saw a person excellent and worshipful, a sun amidst a
Shadow.
Coming from afar, like the new moon (in slenderness
And radiance): he was non-existent, though existent in the form of
Phantasy.
In the spirit phantasy is as naught, (yet) behold a world
(turning) on a phantasy!
Their peace and their was (turn) on a phantasy, and their
Pride and their shame spring from a phantasy;
(But) those phantasies which ensnare the saints are the
reflexion of the fair ones of the garden of God.
In the countenance of the stranger-guest was appearing that
Phantasy which the king beheld in his dream.
The king himself, instead of the chamberlains, went forward
To meet his guest from the Invisible.
Both were seamen who had learned to swim, the souls of
Both were knit together without sewing.
The king said, "Thou wert my Beloved (in reality), not she;
But in this world deed issues from deed.
O thou who art to me (as) Mustafa (Muhammed), while I am
Like unto 'Umar - I will gird my loins to do thee service."
"The Mathnawi of Jalalu'ddin Rumi"
Edited and translated by Reynold A. Nicholson
Published by "E.J.W.Gibb Memorial",
Cambridge, England.
First published 1926, Reprinted 1990.
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