Rumi's Masnavi - That he may know that those robes were a loan: ’twas a ray from the Sun of Being.”

That he may know that those robes were a loan: ’twas a ray from the Sun of Being.”

تا بداند کان حلل عاریه بود ** پرتوی بود آن ز خورشید وجود

(All) that beauty and power and virtue and knowledge have journeyed hither from the Sun of Excellence. 985

آن جمال و قدرت و فضل و هنر ** ز آفتاب حسن کرد این سو سفر

They, the light of that Sun, turn back again, like the stars, from these (bodily) walls.

باز می‌گردند چون استارها ** نور آن خورشید ازین دیوارها

(When) the Sunbeam has gone home, every wall is left dark and black.

پرتو خورشید شد وا جایگاه ** ماند هر دیوار تاریک و سیاه

That which made thee amazed at the faces of the fair is the Light of the Sun (reflected) from the three-coloured glass.

آنک کرد او در رخ خوبانت دنگ ** نور خورشیدست از شیشه‌ی سه رنگ

The glasses of diverse hue cause that Light to seem coloured like this to us.

شیشه‌های رنگ رنگ آن نور را ** می‌نمایند این چنین رنگین بما

When the many-coloured glasses are no more, then the colourless Light makes thee amazed. 990

چون نماند شیشه‌های رنگ‌رنگ ** نور بی‌رنگت کند آنگاه دنگ

Make it thy habit to behold the Light without the glass, in order that when the glass is shattered there may not be blindness (in thee).

خوی کن بی‌شیشه دیدن نور را ** تا چو شیشه بشکند نبود عمی

Thou art content with knowledge learned (from others): thou hast lit thine eye at another's lamp.

قانعی با دانش آموخته ** در چراغ غیر چشم افروخته

He takes away his lamp, that thou mayst know thou art a borrower, not a giver.

او چراغ خویش برباید که تا ** تو بدانی مستعیری نی‌فتا