Rumi's Masnavi - He said, “Although the middle path is (the way of) wisdom, yet the middle path too is relative.

He said, “Although the middle path is (the way of) wisdom, yet the middle path too is relative.

گفت راه اوسط ار چه حکمت است ** لیک اوسط نیز هم با نسبت است‏

Relatively to a camel, the water in the stream is little, but to a mouse it is like the ocean.

آب جو نسبت به اشتر هست کم ** لیک باشد موش را آن همچو یم‏

If any one has an allowance of four loaves and eats two or three, that is the mean;

هر که را باشد وظیفه چار نان ** دو خورد یا سه خورد هست اوسط آن‏

But if he eat all the four, it is far from the mean: he is in bondage to greed, like a duck.

ور خورد هر چار دور از اوسط است ** او اسیر حرص مانند بط است‏

If one has appetite for ten loaves and eats six, know that that is the mean. 3535

هر که او را اشتها ده نان بود ** شش خورد می‏دان که اوسط آن بود

When I have appetite for fifty loaves, and you for (no more than) six scones, we are not equivalent.

چون مرا پنجاه نان هست اشتهی ** مر ترا شش گرده هم دستیم نی‏

You may be tired by ten rak‘as (of prayer), I may not be worn thin by five hundred.

تو به ده رکعت نماز آیی ملول ** من به پانصد در نیایم در نحول‏

One goes bare-foot (all the way) to the Ka‘ba, and one becomes beside himself (with exhaustion in going) as far as the mosque.

آن یکی تا کعبه حافی می‏رود ** و آن یکی تا مسجد از خود می‏شود

One in utter self-devotion gives his life, one is agonised at giving a single loaf.

آن یکی در پاکبازی جان بداد ** وین یکی جان کند تا یک نان بداد

This mean belongs to (the realm of) the finite, for that (finite) has a beginning and end. 3540

این وسط در با نهایت می‏رود ** که مرا آن را اول و آخر بود