2. To a Merchant
You've washed your face with Zam-Zam water,
made your pilgrimage like a man, escaped all sorrow,
worked hard for forty years - given away very little,
true, but taken very little - etc., etc. But
how many times have you sold plain linen
and charged the price of silk? If you wish
to purify yourself at last from sin, forget
the business world - does a slave of vinegar and salt
ease the pain of a wound? More and less of
measure and balance - these things are not washed away
by the water of Zam-Zam. You might hide
your connivance even from yourself, but not
from God. Your unlawful fortune came to you
as id on a breeze - a breeze will puff it away.
Wake up! Recite a chapter from the Qur an
and breathe it into your body and soul.
The devil s cheated you, sold you a felt rug
for the price of a silk carpet. You say
you re enjoying yourself, but from where I stand
your festivity looks like a funeral. Lost
in a salt desert, you imagine it an orchard.
Don t pay your way to Mecca with
a pickpocket s silver - don t mingle honey
with poison. You are human, my son,
and must repent of your sins, like Adam.
If the sun of your sins burns your eyes, take refuge
under the shady roof of repentance.
If you want to dwell in the pasture of mercy
graze today in the field of knowledge,
tomorrow in that of action. Moisten the seed
of action with knowledge - the seed
does not grow by itself. Look: a stout rope
hangs down from the Seventh Sphere -
you ll never see it with your darkened eyes
and shadowy heart. Go, take hold of it,
lift yourself up from this aimless caravan,
this shepherdless flock. The rope stands
for one who is the embodiment of wisdom
- no one sees knowledge except in him.
My heart knows - he is God s Trustee,
guardian of the Qur anic wisdom and the realm
of Jamshid. On Judgement Day only those
will be honoured who have been honoured by him.
He soars above all men in wisdom, and men
can raise themselves by his lofty precepts.
The world would be a fair price to pay
for him - he is the celebrated gem, the world
his bezel ring. As for me, he has appointed me
shepherd over a flock - and I shall not
wander away in search of another.
Do you thirst? Of you re sober enough
I ll show you a way to a sweet sea.
And if you listen to my advice, I ll see you
pulled out of the well, raised to the spheres.
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