گر بیان معنوی کافی شدی
خلق عالم عاطل و باطل بدی
گر محبت فکرت و معنیستی
صورت روزه و نمازت نیستی
هدیههای دوستان با همدگر
نیست اندر دوستی الا صور
تا گواهی داده باشد هدیهها
بر محبتهای مضمر در خفا
gar bayan-e-ma’anavi kafi shodi
khalq-e-’alam ‘atel o batel budi
gar mohabbat fekrat o ma’anisti
surat ruzeh o namazat nisti
hediyeh-ha-ye-dustan ba hamdegar
nist andar-e-dusti ela savar
ta govahi dadeh bashad hediyeh-ha
bar mohabbat-ha-yeh-mozmar dar khafa
/if/spiritual discourse/enough/had been/
/creation of the [temporal] world/useless/and/vain/was/
/if/love/thought/and/[temporal] meaning/is/
/form/fasting/and/prayer/is not/
/gifts of friends/to/each other/
/is not/as to friendship/but/forms/
/so that/witnessing/being given/gifts/
/to/tacit loves/in/mystery/
If spiritual words were enough
the created world would be useless and vain.
If love was all thought and sense
fasting and prayer would not exist.
Friends’ gifts to each other,
compared to friendship,
are nothing but forms.
But their giving is what
testifies to those mysterious loves unseen.
Mowlana Jalaluddin Mohammad Balkhi ‘Rumi’ — Mathnawi I 2625-27
–translation by halewi
