Aql do (two wisdoms!
by Rumi

`Aql do `aqlast avval maksabi
keh dar âmuzi cho dar maktab sabi
Az ketâb o ustâd o fekr o zekr
az ma`âni vaz `olum-e khub o bekr
`Aql-e to afzun shavad bar digarân
lik to bâshi ze hefz-e ân gerân
Lawh-e hâfez bâshi andar dur o gasht
lawh-e mahfuz ust ku zin dar gozasht
`Aql-e digar bakhshesh-e Yazdân bovad
cheshmeh-ye ân dar miyân-e jân bovad
Chon ze sineh âb-e dânesh jush kard
nah shavad gandeh nah dirineh nah zard
Var rah-e nab`esh bovad basteh cheh ghamm
ku hami jushad ze khâneh dam be-dam
`Aql-e tahsili mesâl-e jui-hâ
kân ravad dar khâneh az kui-hâ
Râh-e âbesh basteh shod shod bi navâ
az darun-e khvishetan ju cheshmeh-râ

           -- Mathnawi IV:1960-1968
              transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

    

You Have Three Companions
by Rumi
In this world you have three companions:
one is faithful, the others are treacherous.
The latter are friends and possessions;
the faithful one is excellence in deeds.
Your wealth won't come with you out of your palace;
your friend will come, but only as far as the grave.
When the day of doom comes to meet you,
your friend will say, "I've come this far, but no farther.
I will stand a while at your grave."
Your deeds alone are faithful: make them your refuge,
for they alone will accompany you into the depths of the tomb.

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Dar zamâneh mar torâ seh hamrahand
ân yeki vâfi va in do ghadrmand
Ân yeki yârân va digar rakht o mâl
vân sevom vâfiyast vân hosn-e af`âl
Mâl na-âyad bâ to birun az qosur
yâr âyad lik âyad tâ be-gur
Chon torâ ruz-e ajal âyad be-pish
yâr guyad az zabân-e hâl-e khvish
"Tâ bedinjâ pish hamrah nistam
bar sar-e guret zamâni bistam"
Fe`l-e to vâfiyast zu kon moltahad
keh dar âyad bâ to dar qa`r-e lahd

           -- Mathnawi V: 1045-1050
              Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
              "Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
              Threshold Books, 1996
              (Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)

Something better in return !
by Rumi
 Should heartache enter your mind and ambush your joy, yet
it prepares the way for happiness.
    Quickly it sweeps all others out of the house so that joy
may come to you from the Source of good.
    It shakes the yellow leaves from the branch of the heart,
so that fresh leaves may grow continuously.
    It pulls up the root of old happiness so that a new ecstasy
may stroll in from Yonder.
    Heartache pulls up withered and crooked roots so that no
root may remain concealed.
    Though heartache may extract many things from the heart,
in truth it will bring something better in return.

          Mathnawi V: 3678-83
              Translation by  William C. Chittick
              "The Sufi Path of Love - The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi"
              State University of New York Press, Albany, 1983