The Beggar and the Giver in Love
From Rumi’s Masnavi (مثنوی معنوی), Book 1, section 129 of 171: Showing that (در بیان آن که چنان که گدا عاشق کرم است و عاشق کریم، کرم کریم هم عاشق گداست اگر گدا را صبر). Below, each of its 16 couplets is given in Persian, followed by R. A. Nicholson’s English translation.
Showing that, as the beggar is in love with bounty and in love with the bountiful giver, so the bounty of the bountiful giver is in love with the beggar: if the beggar have the greater patience, the bountiful giver will come to his door; and if the bountiful giver have the greater patience, the beggar will come to his door; but the beggar’s patience is a virtue in the beggar, while the patience of the bountiful giver is in him a defect در بیان آن که چنان که گدا عاشق کرم است و عاشق کریم، کرم کریم هم عاشق گداست اگر گدا را صبر بیش بود کریم بر در او آید و اگر کریم را صبر بیش بود گدا بر در او آید اما صبر گدا کمال گداست و صبر کریم نقصان اوست
بانگ می‌‌آمد که ای طالب بیا
جود محتاج گدایان چون گدا
A loud call was coming (to his ears): “Come, O seeker! Bounty is in need of beggars: (it is needy) like a beggar.
جود می‌‌جوید گدایان و ضعاف
همچو خوبان کاینه جویند صاف
Bounty is seeking the beggars and the poor, just as fair ones who seek a clear mirror.
روی خوبان ز آینه زیبا شود
روی احسان از گدا پیدا شود
The face of the fair is made beautiful by the mirror, the face of Beneficence is made visible by the beggar.
پس از این فرمود حق در و الضحی
بانگ کم زن ای محمد بر گدا
Therefore on this account God said in the Súra Wa’d-Duhá, “O Mohammed, do not shout at (and drive away) the beggar.”
چون گدا آیینه‌‌ی جود است هان
دم بود بر روی آیینه زیان
Inasmuch as the beggar is the mirror of Bounty, take care! Breath is hurtful to the face of the mirror.
آن یکی جودش گدا آرد پدید
و آن دگر بخشد گدایان را مزید
In the one case, his (the giver’s) bounty makes the beggar manifest (causes him to beg), while in the other case he (the giver), (without being asked), bestows on the beggars more (than they need).
پس گدایان آیت جود حق‌‌اند
و آن که با حقند جود مطلق‌‌اند
Beggars, then, are the evidentiary sign of God’s bounty, and they that are with God are (united with) the Absolute Bounty;
و آن که جز این دوست او خود مرده‌‌ای است
او بر این در نیست نقش پرده‌‌ای است
And every one except those two (types of beggar) is truly a dead man: he is not at this door (the Divine Court), he is (lifeless as) a picture (embroidered) on a curtain.
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