Rumi's Masnavi - The merchant in fire (burning grief) and anguish and yearning was uttering a hundred distracted phrases like this,

The merchant in fire (burning grief) and anguish and yearning was uttering a hundred distracted phrases like this, 1815

خواجه اندر آتش و درد و حنین ** صد پراکنده همی‌‌گفت این چنین‌‌

Now self-contradiction, now disdain, now supplication, now passion for reality, now metaphor (unreality).

گه تناقض گاه ناز و گه نیاز ** گاه سودای حقیقت گه مجاز

The drowning man suffers an agony of soul and clutches at every straw.

مرد غرقه گشته جانی می‌‌کند ** دست را در هر گیاهی می‌‌زند

For fear of (losing) his head (life), he flings about (both) hand and foot to see whether any one will take his hand (help him) in peril.

تا کدامش دست گیرد در خطر ** دست و پایی می‌‌زند از بیم سر

The Friend loves this agitation: it is better to struggle vainly than to lie still.

دوست دارد یار این آشفتگی ** کوشش بی‌‌هوده به از خفتگی‌‌

He who is the King (of all) is not idle, (though) complaint from Him would be a marvel, for He is not ill. 1820

آن که او شاه است او بی‌‌کار نیست ** ناله از وی طرفه کاو بیمار نیست‌‌

For this reason said the Merciful (God), O son, “Every day He is (busy) in an affair,” O son.

بهر این فرمود رحمان ای پسر ** کل يوم هو فی شأن ای پسر

In this Way be thou ever scraping and scratching (exerting thyself to the utmost): until thy last breath do not be unoccupied for a moment,

اندر این ره می‌‌تراش و می‌‌خراش ** تا دم آخر دمی فارغ مباش‌‌

So that thy last breath may be a last breath in which the (Divine) favour is thy bosom-friend.

تا دم آخر دمی آخر بود ** که عنایت با تو صاحب سر بود

Whatsoever they strive (to do), whether man or woman, the ear and eye of the soul's King are at the window.

هر چه می‌‌کوشند اگر مرد و زن است ** گوش و چشم شاه جان بر روزن است‌‌

How the merchant cast the parrot out of the cage and how the dead parrot flew away.

برون انداختن مرد تاجر طوطی را از قفس و پریدن طوطی مرده‌‌