STORY III-c

If thou neglectest regard and care for it, Thou wilt quench at midnight the lamp of union." In one 'twas said, "Quench that torch without fear, That in lieu of one thou may'st see a thousand joys, For by quenching the light the soul is rejoiced, And thy Laila is then as bold as her Majnun. Whoso to display his devotion renounces the world, The world is ever with him, before and behind." In one 'twas said, "Whatsoever God has given thee In His creation, that He has made sweet to thee; Yea, pleasant to thee and allowable. Take it, then, And cast not thyself into the pangs of abstinence." In one 'twas said, "Give up all thou possessest, For to be ruled by covetousness is grievous sin." (Ah! how many diverse roads are pointed out, And each followed by some sect for dear life! If the right road were easily attainable, Every Jew and Gueber would have hit on it!) In one 'twas said, "The right road is attainable, For the heart's life is the food of the soul. Whatever is enjoyed by the carnal man Yields no fruit, even as salt and waste land. Its result is naught but remorse, Its traffic yields only loss. It is not profitable in the long run; Its name is called 'bankrupt' in the upshot. Discern, then, the bankrupt from the profitable, Consider the eventual value of this and that." In one 'twas said, "Choose ye a wise Director, But foresight of results is not found in dignities." (Each sect looked to results in a different way, And so, perforce, became captive to errors. Real foresight of results is not simple jugglery, Otherwise all these differences would not have arisen. In one 'twas said, "Thyself art thy master, Inasmuch as thou art acquainted with the Master of all; Be a man, and not another man's beast of burden! Follow thine own way and lose not thy head!" In one 'twas said, "All we see is One. Whoever says 'tis two is suffering from double vision." In one 'twas said, "A hundred are even as one."7 But whoso thinks this is a. madman. Each scroll had its contrary piece of rhetoric, In form and substance utterly opposed to it; This contrary to that, from first to last, As if each was compounded of poison and antidotes. *NOTES: 1. Compare the story of Zopyrus, Herodotus, iii. 155. 2. John xiv. 26: "But the Comforter (parakletos) shall teach you all things." Mosalmans read periklytos, "praised" = Muhammad. 3. Dajjal, i.e., Antichrist. Sale, Prelim. Discourse, p. 57. 4. Said of the Seven Sleepers in the cave. Koran xviii. 17; "Knower" = the Gnostic who through ecstasy beholds divine verities. 5. This was the doctrine of the Jabriyan or extreme predestinarians. 6. i.e.. Hide not thy light (of good works or of self-denial) under a bushel. 7. Alluding to the doctrine of the Trinity.