| The Gift: A Mirror |
| Divine Face of Jalalud-Din Rumi |
| Translation & Commentary by Seema Arif |
| Get back to Story Index |
How could I bring something so trivial? For a person as auspicious as you, so special! I thought that I must gift you a mirror Like the light of heart it possesses a glitter You may reflect at your beautiful face before it You are like the sun, the lamp of the horizon lit |
| This website has been created and maintained by Seema Arif |
| Rumi tells us about the quality of the righteous: They keep reflecting at their relationships in life, with people, with God and with the universe. How can one maintain the dynamics of such relationship? Click Here for Detail |
| Next page in Story |
| (9) What is the mirror ? How does this tool works? (Click here for Detail) |
| Get back to Rumi Index |
| When Hazrat Yusuf (as) had asked for his gift, his friend was deeply embarrassed at this demand. He said, I had searched every where and there to find a beautiful gift for you, but I could not find a gift worthy enough to present you. So I had brought you a mirror; a person as beautiful as you must have a mirror to look at one's own beauty and adorn it. |
| O illuminated, I have brought a mirror for thee
Whenever, ye look at it; ye may remember me |
Out of his bag was the wonderful tool The mirror, a business for the beautiful The mirror of existence is non existence, cool! Hence, be non-existent if you are not a fool The life takes shape in non-life forever The rich shower their charity always on poor The hungry may look for food in the mirror The burnt is in search of matches thither The flaw, the disorder and the destruction In itself mirrors beauty and all perfection Annihilation is an art with sweeping effect Our selves are impure; tainted with ideas imperfect A cloth which is already crafted in dress Brilliance of a tailor cannot rightly address We must provide the whole log of trees Carpenter may choose to cut it to sizes free Whom will the orthopedic surgeon attend? Patients with broken joints, bones fragment Unless somebody is sick with some ailment No doctor can practice his wonderful medicine If copper is not so impure, rusty and rugged What art the science of Alchemy had to exhibit |
| Every flaw is a mirror unto precision
As Slander is mirror of glory and admiration Opposites strike at each other clearing the vision Vinegar for honey can never be mistaken One who has identified his limitation Is quickening towards its mitigation He can never rise to ultimate ascension He, who is obsessed of self perfection. |