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]