Rumi's Masnavi - If this is the cat, then where is the meat? Or, if this is the meat, where is the cat? Search (for her)!”

If this is the cat, then where is the meat? Or, if this is the meat, where is the cat? Search (for her)!”

این اگر گربه‌ست پس آن گوشت کو ** ور بود این گوشت گربه کو بجو

If Báyazíd is this (body), what is that spirit? And if he is that spirit, who is this (bodily) image?

بایزید ار این بود آن روح چیست ** ور وی آن روحست این تصویر کیست

’Tis bewilderment on bewilderment. O my friend, (the solution of) this (problem) is not your affair, nor is it mine either. 3420

حیرت اندر حیرتست ای یار من ** این نه کار تست و نه هم کار من

He is both (spirit and body), but in the corn-crop the grain is fundamental, while the stalk is derivative.

هر دو او باشد ولیک از ریع زرع ** دانه باشد اصل و آن که پره فرع

(The Divine) Wisdom has bound these contraries together: O butcher, this fleshy thigh-bone goes along with the neck.

حکمت این اضداد را با هم ببست ** ای قصاب این گردران با گردنست

The spirit cannot function without the body; your body is frozen (inanimate) and cold (inert) without the spirit.

روح بی‌قالب نداند کار کرد ** قالبت بی‌جان فسرده بود و سرد

Your body is visible, while your spirit is hidden from view: the business of the world is conducted by means of them both.

قالبت پیدا و آن جانت نهان ** راست شد زین هر دو اسباب جهان

If you throw earth at (some one's) head, his head will not be broken; if you throw water at his head, it will not be broken. 3425

خاک را بر سر زنی سر نشکند ** آب را بر سر زنی در نشکند

If you wish to break his head, you bring the earth and the water into contact with each other (and make a lump of clay).

گر تو می‌خواهی که سر را بشکنی ** آب را و خاک را بر هم زنی

When you have broken your head, its water (the spirit) returns to its source, and earth returns to earth on the day of separation.

چون شکستی سر رود آبش به اصل ** خاک سوی خاک آید روز فصل