Mevlâna Jalâluddîn Rumi Grace O You who make demands within me like an embryo, since You are the one who makes the demand, make its fulfillment easy; show the way, help me, or else relinquish Your claim and take this burden from me! Since from a debtor You're demanding gold, give him gold in secret, O rich King! [III, 1490-2] You can't bear the bite of a flea: how will you endure the bite of a snake? In appearance I am ruining your work, but in reality I am making a thorn into a rose-garden. [IV, 2339-40] It was Mary's painful need that made such a babe as Jesus begin to speak from the cradle. Whatsoever grew has grown for the sake of those in need, so that a seeker may find the thing he sought. If God most High has created the heavens, He has created them for the purpose of satisfying needs. Wherever a pain is, that's where the cure goes; wherever poverty is, that's where provision goes. Wherever a difficult question is, that's where the answer goes; wherever a ship is, water goes to it. Don't seek the water; increase your thirst, so water may gush forth from above and below. Until the tender-throated babe is born, how should the milk for it flow from the mother's breast? [III, 3204;3208-13] Translated by Camille and Kabir Helminski |