Rumi's Masnavi - Know, then, that a fair and goodly form with bad qualities (within) is not worth a farthing;

Know, then, that a fair and goodly form with bad qualities (within) is not worth a farthing;

پس بدان که صورت خوب و نکو ** با خصال بد نیرزد یک تسو

And though the form be despicable and unpleasing, (yet) when his (that person's) disposition is good, die at his feet!

ور بود صورت حقیر و ناپذیر ** چون بود خلقش نکو در پاش میر

Know that the outward form passes away, (but) the world of reality remains for ever. 1020

صورت ظاهر فنا گردد بدان ** عالم معنی بماند جاودان‏

How long will you play at loving the shape of the jug? Leave the shape of the jug; go, seek the water.

چند بازی عشق با نقش سبو ** بگذر از نقش سبو رو آب جو

You have seen its (outward) form, you are unaware of the reality; pick out from the shell a pearl, if you are wise.

صورتش دیدی ز معنی غافلی ** از صدف دری گزین گر عاقلی‏

These shells of bodies in the world, though they all are living by (grace of) the Sea of Soul—

این صدفهای قوالب در جهان ** گر چه جمله زنده‏اند از بحر جان‏

Yet there is not a pearl in every shell: open your eyes and look into the heart of each one,

لیک اندر هر صدف نبود گهر ** چشم بگشا در دل هر یک نگر

And pick out what that one has and what this, because that costly pearl is seldom found. 1025

کان چه دارد وین چه دارد می‏گزین ** ز انکه کمیاب است آن در ثمین‏

If you go (turn your attention) to the form, by external appearance a mountain is a hundred times as much as a ruby in bigness;

گر به صورت می‏روی کوهی به شکل ** در بزرگی هست صد چندان که لعل‏

Also, in respect of form, your hands and feet and hair are a hundred times as much as the contour of the eye;

هم به صورت دست و پا و پشم تو ** هست صد چندان که نقش چشم تو

But this (fact) is not hidden from you, that the two eyes are the choicest of all (your) members.

لیک پوشیده نباشد بر تو این ** کز همه اعضا دو چشم آمد گزین‏

By one thought that comes into the mind a hundred worlds are overturned in a single moment.

از یک اندیشه که آید در درون ** صد جهان گردد به یک دم سر نگون‏

If the body of the Sultan is, in form (appearance), one (only), (yet) hundreds of thousands of soldiers run behind (it). 1030

جسم سلطان گر به صورت یک بود ** صد هزاران لشکرش در پی دود

Again, the figure and form of the excellent King are ruled by one invisible thought.

باز شکل و صورت شاه صفی ** هست محکوم یکی فکر خفی‏

Behold people without end who, moved by one thought, have gone over the earth like a flood;

خلق بی‏پایان ز یک اندیشه بین ** گشته چون سیلی روانه بر زمین‏

Small is that thought in the people's eyes, but like a flood it swallowed and swept away the world.

هست آن اندیشه پیش خلق خرد ** لیک چون سیلی جهان را خورد و برد

So, when you see that from a thought every craft in the world (arises and) subsists—

پس چو می‏بینی که از اندیشه‏ای ** قایم است اندر جهان هر پیشه‏ای‏

(That) houses and palaces and cities, mountains and plains and rivers, 1035

خانه‏ها و قصرها و شهرها ** کوهها و دشتها و نهرها

Earth and ocean as well as sun and sky, are living (derive their life) from it as fishes from the sea—

هم زمین و بحر و هم مهر و فلک ** زنده از وی همچو کز دریا سمک‏

Then why in your foolishness, O blind one, does the body seem to you a Solomon, and thought (only) as an ant?

پس چرا از ابلهی پیش تو کور ** تن سلیمان است و اندیشه چو مور

To your eye the mountain appears great: (to you) thought is like a mouse, and the mountain (like) a wolf.

می‏نماید پیش چشمت که بزرگ ** هست اندیشه چو موش و کوه گرگ‏

The (material) world in your eyes is awful and sublime: you tremble and are frightened at the clouds and the thunder and the sky,

عالم اندر چشم تو هول و عظیم ** ز ابر و رعد و چرخ داری لرز و بیم‏

While in regard to the world of thought, O less (lower) than the ass, you are secure and indifferent as a witless stone, 1040

وز جهان فکرتی ای کم ز خر ** ایمن و غافل چو سنگ بی‏خبر

Because you are a (mere) shape and have no portion of intelligence; you are not of human nature, you are an ass's colt.

ز انکه نقشی وز خرد بی‏بهره‏ای ** آدمی خو نیستی خر کره‏ای‏

From ignorance you deem the shadow to be the substance: hence to you the substance has become a plaything and of slight account.

سایه را تو شخص می‏بینی ز جهل ** شخص از آن شد نزد تو بازی و سهل‏