Jewels of Remembrance

"Whatever is steeped in grape juice will acquire the flavor of the grape.

Whether it be carrots or apples or quinces and walnuts,

You will taste in them the delicious flavor of the grape.

When your knowledge is steeped in the light of faith,

Then wayward people will receive light from it.

Whatever you say will be luminous,

For the sky never rains anything but pure water.

Become like the sky.

Become like the cloud and shed rain:

Tthe spout rains, too, but it can't produce the rain.

The water in the spout is borrowed;

The water in the cloud and sea is original.

Your thought and reasoning resemble the spout;

Inspiration and revelation are like the cloud and the sky.

The rain water engenders all the colors of the garden,

While the spout causes quarrels with your neighbors."

... Mathnawi, Jalaluddin Rumi