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

The Escape of the Merchant’s Parrot
107

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Words aren’t for lovers to re
flect upon:
What then are words? Around vines, they’re a thorn,
Word, sound, and speech I strike relentlessly
1740
So I can talk to you without these three.
The word I kept from Adam all these years,
My secret, I’ll now whisper in your ears,
What I would not tell Abraham I’ll tell
And things that Gabriel doesn’t know as well.’
The words that the Messiah couldn’t say,
Even without 
maa, here God won’t convey ––
What’s
maa?
* It can affirm, and it negates,
I’m not a
ffirmed, for love annihilates!
I’ve found a person in a nobody,
1745
An individual and non-entity,
For every king’s subservient to his slave ––
Men die for those who for them choose their grave:
Before prostraters kings fall down prostrate,
And sober people drunks intoxicate,
The hunter changes to the birds’ own prey
To make them his own victim in this way,
The lovesick seek their sweethearts with their soul,
Their sweethearts are their prey, this is their role.
Regard each lover as beloved too
1750
Since it depends on just your point of view,
For if the thirsty search for water, then
That means the water’s seeking thirsty men.
Since he’s in love keep quiet, there’s no harm,
And if he grabs your ear, let him, stay calm ––
No, dam the rising 
flood, don’t let it loose
To shame us all with damaging abuse!
If there’s destruction now why should I care?
The ruins hide a royal treasure there.
Those drowned in God want more, they want it all,
1755
Just like the tide, their souls rise up, then fall,
The ocean’s depths or surface –– which is best?
An arrow or a shield –– which worthiest?
You must have been ripped up by whisperings, heart,
If you can still tell joy and pain apart ––
The Escape of the Merchant’s Parrot
108

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You lust for sugar, don’t you know it’s true
Beloved God wants lack of lust from you?
For moons he puts out all the stars at night,
To kill the whole world he has every right!
We’ve also earned from God a high blood-price,
1760
By o
ffering up our lives as sacrifice:
The lover’s life is found in death: it’s known
You’ll earn a heart by giving up your own.
I sought his heart, but had so many cares,
He made excuses, weary of my airs:
I claimed, ‘My soul is drowned in you, you know!’
He said, ‘Stop chanting spells at me –– just go!’
I know well what you tried then to insist
When you saw the Beloved, dualist!
You’ve held Him in such low regard, you fool,
1765
Because you bought Him cheaply –– heed the rule:
If you’ve bought cheaply, cheaply you’ll resell:
A child will swap a pearl for bread –– heed well!
Inside the same pure love I now have drowned
As that which lovers of the past have found,
I don’t explain it all, but summarize,
My tongue would burn itself up otherwise:
When I say ‘lip’, read: ‘borders by the sea’,
When I say ‘
none’, read: ‘but’ the Deity!
*
Because of sweetness I look bitter now,
1770
I’ve talked too much, now silence is my vow,
So no one sees our sweetness, not one trace
Behind the mask of my most bitter face,
Since they’re not suitable for everyone
Of countless secrets I’ll divulge just one:
The Escape of the Merchant’s Parrot
109

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Explanation of the saying of the Hakim: ‘If something holds