Rumi's Masnavi - Thou art a duck: thou art one that lives (both) on dry and wet; thou art not one like the domestic fowl, whose house is ill-smelling.

Thou art a duck: thou art one that lives (both) on dry and wet; thou art not one like the domestic fowl, whose house is ill-smelling.

تو بطی بر خشک و بر تر زنده‏ای ** نی چو مرغ خانه خانه کنده‏ای‏

Thou art a king in virtue of (the text), We have ennobled the sons of Adam: thou settest foot both on the dry land and on the Sea.

تو ز کرمنا بنی آدم شهی ** هم به خشکی هم به دریا پا نهی‏

For in spirit thou art (what is signified by the text), We have conveyed them on the Sea: push forward (then) from (the state implied in the words), We have conveyed them on the land.

که حملناهم علی البحری به جان ** از حملناهم علی البر پیش ران‏

The angels have no access to the land; the animal kind, again, are ignorant of the Sea. 3775

مر ملایک را سوی بر راه نیست ** جنس حیوان هم ز بحر آگاه نیست‏

Thou in (thy) body art an animal, and in (thy) spirit thou art of the angels, so that thou mayst walk on the earth and also in the sky;

تو به تن حیوان به جانی از ملک ** تا روی هم بر زمین هم بر فلک‏

So that the seer with heart divinely inspired may be, in appearance, a man like yourselves.

تا به ظاهر مثلکم باشد بشر ** با دل یوحی إلیه دیده‏ور

His body of dust (is here), fallen upon the earth; (but) his spirit (is) circling in this highest sphere (of Heaven).

قالب خاکی فتاده بر زمین ** روح آن گردان بر این چرخ برین‏

We all are water-birds, O lad: the Sea fully knows our language.

ما همه مرغابیانیم ای غلام ** بحر می‏داند زبان ما تمام‏

Therefore the Sea is (our) Solomon, and we are as the birds (familiar with Solomon): in Solomon we move unto everlasting. 3780

پس سلیمان بحر آمد ما چو طیر ** در سلیمان تا ابد داریم سیر

With Solomon set thy foot in the Sea, that the water, David-like, may make a hundred rings of mail (ripples).

با سلیمان پای در دریا بنه ** تا چو داود آب سازد صد زره‏