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

Omar and the Emissary from Byzantium
91

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To hold him captive with this thought a bit,
‘Shall I obey or do the opposite?’
God’s preference is implicit for one side;
This factor helps the doubter to decide.
You don’t want to be plagued by doubts and fears?
Then put less cotton wool inside your ears
To hear those riddles that the Lord will tell,
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The secret hints he gives, the clear as well ––
Your spirit’s ear will hear His revelation.
What’s that? It’s speech that’s far beyond sensation!
Spiritual ears and eyes transcend mere sense,
While rational ones can only claim pretence.
The word ‘
compulsion’
* spurs my heart ahead
While those who lack love feel ensnared instead,
It’s not compulsion but divine communion,
Not clouds, but the full moon in total union;
If it’s compulsion it’s a special kind,
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Not that commanding self ’s
* type which is blind:
Compulsion like this few identify,
God’s given these men’s hearts an inner eye ––
Hidden things and the future they can see,
Mentioning the past near them is blasphemy!
For them compulsion’s di
fferent as well:
Drops turn to pearls inside an oyster shell,
However big each drop looks to your eyes
It forms a pearl exactly the same size;
This group are like the gland of the musk deer:
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Inside there’s musk though this may not be clear:
‘There’s only blood around this gland,’ men claim,
‘How can it turn to musk scent all the same?’
They say, ‘This copper’s hideous; I don’t see,
How it can turn to gold through alchemy.’
You found compulsion and free will in form,
For them, to God’s own light it can transform:
Bread on the table is inanimate
But forms a living part inside your gut,
Omar and the Emissary from Byzantium
92

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Unchanging on the table where you dine,
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The soul transmutes it with some heavenly wine ––
The soul has strength to carry out this role;
What then the power of God, who rules the soul!
Man would be merely 
flesh but for his heart,
Both seas and mountains he can split apart:
The heart splits rocks, lifts mountains through the sky,
God’s verse 
He split the moon
* proves I don’t lie––
Just lift the cover of this mystery,
Your soul will seek God’s Throne then eagerly.
How Adam attributed that error to himself, saying ‘O Lord, we
have wronged ourselves!’
* And how Satan attributed his own sin to
God Almighty, saying ‘Since you have sent me astray!’
*
Let us compare our acts with God’s now here,
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Consider our acts real –– this much is clear:
If acts aren’t by creation, there’s no need
To ask, ‘Why did you do that awful deed?’
God gives acts being for they’re His creation.
Each act of ours is God’s manifestation.
*
In words men see the meaning or its form,
They can’t see both at once, this is the norm:
Choosing its meaning, form he throws away,
No one can look both ways at once, can they?
When you are looking straight in front of you
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How can you see what’s there behind you too?
Meaning and form aren’t both in its control
So how can their creator be your soul?
The Lord encompasses all things, my son,
For Him one act won’t stop another one.
‘
You led astray’, though Satan claimed, he lied:
His own deeds that vile devil tried to hide.
‘
We’ve wronged ourselves’: when Adam thus confessed
He still knew acts are God’s –– he spoke the best:
Out of respect he said it was his sin,
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Through bearing this, more favour he would win;