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

Lord grant me!’ was the plea of Solomon:
He meant ‘Give me alone dominion,
The Poor Bedouin and his Wife
160

---

To others don’t be kind and generous’,
He wasn’t being simply envious:
With heart ‘
It is not suitable’ now read,
‘
After me’
* wasn’t avarice or greed:
In kingship he’d faced danger and much strife
Enough to make one fear for one’s own life,
For head and soul and faith it makes one scared ––
2620
We’ve not faced trials that can be compared!
Solomon’s aspiration you require
To shun cheap vanities and aim much higher.
Despite his strength he couldn’t conquer death:
His kingdom’s waves eventually blocked his breath,
Dust settled on him from this agony,
For other kings he thus felt sympathy.
He spoke for them: ‘This royalty of mine ––
Give it completely, just as strong and 
fine,
To whomsoever you should smile upon,
2625
For I am he and he is Solomon.
He isn’t
after me but with me here
But what’s
with me when I’ve no claimants near?’
You’ll need an explanation 
first to learn
But to the couple’s tale I’ll now return.
Conclusion of the incident between the bedouin and his wife
The altercation in this tale we’ve heard
Requires a moral not to be absurd,
Their tale’s been told, but let’s now recollect
That parable on self and intellect,
Or carnal soul and wisdom –– understood?
2630
Both are required to make the bad and good,
On earth these two essentials night and day
Are
fighting and disputing every way:
The wife wants all the household needs supplied,
Food on the table, social rank, and pride;
The carnal soul, like her, serves its own need,
So now it’s humble, now it wants to lead;
The Poor Bedouin and his Wife
161

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The higher intellect has no concerns ––
It only thinks of God with pain that burns.
Although its inner meaning is the bait,
2635
First listen to this story’s form, then wait:
If inner things are all that count, explain
The world’s creation –– was it all in vain?
If love were just in thought and spirit, there
Would be no need for forms like fasts and prayer;
The gifts exchanged by lovers would be naught
But form compared with love, if that’s just thought.
For lovers, gifts serve as their evidence
Of inner love concealed from outward sense,
Since outward acts of kindness testify
2640
To secret loves, my friend, when they don’t lie;
Your witness tells the truth then falsi
fies,
Now drunk with wine, now yoghurt –– truth and lies:
One drunk on yoghurt acts drunk, that is all,
He hollers and pretends he’s lost control;
In prayer and fasting hypocrites pretend
They’re drunken saints who’ve reached the journey’s end ––
In short, our outward actions are distinct ––
They serve to show what’s hidden, thus they’re linked.
Grant us discernment, God, we pray to you,
2645
So we can recognize the false from true!
Do you know how our senses can discern?
When they 
see by the light of God
* they’ll learn:
Without e
ffects the cause still shows what’s found,
Relationships reveal love that’s profound,
The one whose leader is God’s light is not
Cause and e
ffect’s slave, victim of their plot;
From 
flickers love’s flame grows so tall inside,
No longer to e
ffects is this man tied––
He has no need now for the signs of love
2650
For love has shone its light straight from above.
This discourse needs more space to be complete:
Re
flect on this until we next should meet.