When you fall asleep,
you go from the presence of yourself
into your own true presence.
You hear something
and surmise that someone else in your dream
has secretly informed you.
You are not a single “you.”
No, you are the sky and the deep sea.
Your mighty “Thou,” which is nine hundredfold,
is the ocean, the drowning place
of a hundred “thou’s” within you.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~~
Hamcho ?n vaqti keh khv?b andar ravi
to ze pish-e khvod be-pish-e khvod shavi
Be-shenavi az khvish va pend?ri fol?n
b? to andar khv?b goftast ?n neh?n
To yeki To nisti ay khvosh rafiq
balke garduni va dary?-ye `amiq
?n To zaftet keh ?n nohsad Tost
qolzomast va gharqeh-g?h-e sad tost
— Mathnawi III: 1300-1303
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
“Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance”
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahy? Monastra)
