The Masnavi, Book One (Oxford World's Classics)

Particles track their universal source,
A
fire to burn believers with foul deeds,
880
This
fire consumed itself like burning weeds!
His mother’s called Hawiya, which means ‘hell’,
*
So she must be his everlasting cell:
A mother seeks her child each day she lives
As sources seek their own derivatives;
If water is con
fined inside a pond,
The wind extracts and carries it beyond,
Then sets it free by wafting drops back home
Gently, without creating waves or foam.
Likewise, it’s breath which steals men’s souls away
885
From this world’s prison, bit by bit each day:
For thus, 
From us sweet perfumed words shall rise
*
To places known alone by God, the Wise;
Our breaths are granted leave selectively,
Gifts for the realm of His eternity,
Rewards for good speech come down to us then
Twice over, mercy from God to good men.
The Jewish King’s Anti-Christian Fire
56

---

Then He entrusts us to exemplars, so
His servants can receive what such men know ––
These breaths ascend and grace comes down from there,
890
May you not cease from doing your own share!
Let’s speak in Persian: this attraction’s pull
Is from the source of all things spiritual;
The eyes of every group look to that side
Where inner cravings might be satis
fied,
For each one seeks another of its kind ––
The part pines for the whole you’ll always 
find;
But maybe it can join another sort,
Becoming one of them when they consort?
Water and bread with us you can’t compare
895
But, once they’re eaten, turn to 
flesh in there,
Water and bread don’t look compatible,
The end-result shows that it’s possible.
So if it’s something di
fferent that you like
It must at least in some way be alike;
Things that are similar only can be lent,
A loan is never something permanent:
A hunter’s whistle sounds just like a bird
To capture those deceived by what they’ve heard!
Sea vapour can mislead all men who thirst,
900
For water they mistake its form at 
first;
The penniless are pleased to 
find false gold,
But in the mint its shameful truth is told.
Don’t let false gold divert you straight to hell
Or
fickle fancies lead you down a well,
Look up this tale in 
Kalila and Dimna
*
And
find the page to which this part is similar: