آن الف در بسم پنهان کرد ایست ** هست او در بسم و هم در بسم نیست 2240
In bism the alif has stayed hidden: it is in bism and also it is not in bism.
هم‌چنین جمله‌ی حروف گشته مات ** وقت حذف حرف از بهر صلات
Such is the case with all the letters that disappear when they are elided for the purpose of (effecting) conjunctions.
از صله‌ست و بی و سین زو وصل یافت ** وصل بی و سین الف را بر نتافت
It (the suppressed alif in bism) is a sila (means of conjunction) and through it the b and the s have attained to union: the union of the b and the s could not bear the (external intervention of the) alif.
چونک حرفی برنتابد این وصال ** واجب آید که کنم کوته مقال
Since this union cannot bear (the intervention of) a single letter, it behoves me to cut short the discourse.
چون یکی حرفی فراق سین و بیست ** خامشی اینجا مهمتر واجبیست
Since a single letter is the cause of separation between the s and the b, here silence is a most urgent duty.
چون الف از خود فنا شد مکتنف ** بی و سین بی او همی‌گویند الف 2245
When the alif has passed away from self(-existence), taking shelter (in self-abandonment), the b and the s say “alif” without it.
ما رمیت اذ رمیت بی ویست ** هم‌چنین قال الله از صمتش بجست
(The words) thou didst not throw when thou threwest are (an utterance spoken) without him (the Prophet); likewise (the words) God said sprang from his silence.
تا بود دارو ندارد او عمل ** چونک شد فانی کند دفع علل
So long as a drug exists (independently), it has no effect; it removes diseases (only) when it has perished (has been dissolved and assimilated).
گر شود بیشه قلم دریا مداد ** مثنوی را نیست پایانی امید
(Even) if (all) the forest should become pens and (all) the ocean ink, (yet) there is no hope of bringing the Mathnawí to an end.
چارچوب خشت‌زن تا خاک هست ** می‌دهد تقطیع شعرش نیز دست
So long as the Brick-maker's mould is (filled with) earth, the scansion of its (the Mathnawí's) poetry, too, will be kept up.