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5
389-413

  • How delightful is the Sea of painless Life, of which the Seven Seas are (only) a dewdrop!
  • When the Cup-bearer of Alast poured a draught upon this nitrous abject earth, 390
  • The earth seethed, and we are (the result) of that seething. (O God, pour) another draught, for we are very effortless (unaspiring).
  • If ’twas permitted, I sang of non-existence; and if ’twas not to be told, lo, I was silent.
  • This is the account of the bent (grovelling) duck, which is greed: learn of Khalíl (Abraham) that the duck ought to be killed.
  • In the duck there is much good and evil besides this, (but) I am afraid of missing other (more important) topics of discourse.
  • Description of the Peacock and its nature, and the cause of its being killed by Abraham, on whom be peace.
  • Now we come to the two-coloured (double-faced) peacock, who displays himself for the sake of name and fame. 395
  • His desire is to catch people: he is ignorant of good and evil and of the result and use of that (catching).
  • He catches his prey ignorantly, like a trap: what knowledge has the trap concerning the purpose of its action?
  • What harm (comes) to the trap, or what benefit, from catching (its prey)? I wonder at its idle catching.
  • O brother, thou hast uplifted thy friends with two hundred marks of affection, and (then) abandoned (them).
  • This has been thy business from the hour of (thy) birth: to catch people with the trap of love. 400
  • From that pursuit (of people) and throng (of friends) and vainglory and self existence wilt thou get any warp or woof? Try and see!
  • Most (of thy life) is gone and the day is late; (yet) thou art still busy in pursuit of people.
  • Go on catching one and releasing another from the trap and pursuing another, like mean folk;
  • Then again release this one and seek the other! Here's a game of heedless children!
  • Night comes, and nothing is caught in thy trap: the trap is naught but a headache (affliction) and shackle to thee. 405
  • Therefore (in reality) thou wert catching thyself with the trap, for thou art imprisoned and disappointed of thy desire.
  • Is any owner of a trap in the world such a dolt that, like us, he tries to catch himself?
  • Pursuit of the vulgar is like hunting pig: the fatigue is infinite, and ’tis unlawful to eat a morsel thereof.
  • That which is worth pursuing is Love alone; but how should He be contained in any one's trap?
  • (Yet) perchance thou mayst come and be made His prey, thou mayst discard the trap, and go into His trap. 410
  • Love is saying very softly into my ear, “To be a prey is better than to be a hunter.
  • Make thyself My fool and be a dupe: renounce the (high) estate of the sun, become a mote!
  • Become a dweller at My door and be homeless: do not pretend to be a candle, be a moth,