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The World
The world is a mountain
Whatever you say, good or bad, it will echo it back to you
Don’t say I sang nicely and mountain echoed an ugly voice…
That is not possible
The human intellect is a place where hesitation and uncertainty take root
There is no way to overcome this hesitation…except by falling in love
To reach the sea and be happy with a jug water is a waste
The sea that has pearls…
And a hundred thousand other precious things.
Translated from Discourses of Rumi by Fatemeh Keshavarz. Read by Fatemeh Keshavarz
This poem was originally read in the On Being episode “The Ecstatic Faith of Rumi.”
Watch a poetry film version of this on our YouTube channel.
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