Tale XVII: Conclusion
Alas! By one poor morsel, tasted through a sin,The fount of thought’s congealed; heart’s blood diluted thin.One grain of wheat has cast eclipse o’er sun of mind,As “dragon’s tail” doth dull the full moon, when inclined.Behold! How delicate is thought! One mite of clay,From full-moon glory, it reduced to disarray.The bread of life, received, digested, gives man power.Material bread excites distrusts, contentions, sour.
The thorn, while green, cropped by the camel, far from fords,Not only pleasure gives, but nutriment affords.That selfsame thorn, grown dry and void of juicy sap,If ventured on by starving beast in desert gap,His palate and his lips will puncture, blood make flow;As if conserve of roses should with daggers glow.
The word of life’s the green, the tender, juicy thorn.Material become, it’s dry, as hard as horn.And thou, poor flesh, expectant of the living word,Bitest at the word material, dreaming not of sword;—Snappest at the hard, unyielding dictum, with fond zest;And findest it horny, flinty, irksome to digest.It has become a stone. It wounds; it draws forth blood.Then shun it, human camel. Seek it not for food.
Words are most foully mixed with troubling thoughts of earth.The water’s muddy. Close the spring whence it comes forth.Until the Lord, again, shall make it clear and sweet;—Shall purify the inky stream, as He deems meet,—Shall patience add to wish,--not haste and oversight,—Wait thou contentedly. God best knows what is right.
Words in this poem
- disarray v. t.
- To throw into disorder; to break the array of. [Pref. dis- + array, v.: cf. OF. desarroyer, desarreier.]
- selfsame a.
- Precisely the same; the very same; identical. [Self, a. + same.]
- dictum n.
- An authoritative statement; a dogmatic saying; an apothegm. [L., neuter of dictus, p. p. of dicere to say. See Diction, and cf. Ditto.]
- zest n.
- A piece of orange or lemon peel, or the aromatic oil which may be squeezed from such peel, used to give flavor to liquor, etc. [F. zeste, probably fr. L. schistos split, cleft, divided, Gr. Schism.]
- irksome a.
- Wearisome; tedious; disagreeable or troublesome by reason of long continuance or repetition; as, irksome hours; irksome tasks.
- foully v.
- In a foul manner; filthily; nastily; shamefully; unfairly; dishonorably.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Tale XVII: Conclusion is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Mesnevī (usually known as the Mesnevīyi Sherīf, or Holy Mesnevī) of Mevlānā (Our Lord) Jelālu-’d-Dīn, Muhammed, er-Rūmī. Book the First, Project Gutenberg ebook #61724, the James W. Redhouse translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Rumi, Tale XVII: Conclusion, in The Mesnevi, Book the First (1881), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #61724, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/rumi-masnavi-book-one/17.html, id L28611.
Form and metre
Tale XVII: Conclusion is 28 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABBCCDD, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic hexameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic hexameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AABBCCDD sinA · thinA · mindB · inclinedB · clayC · disarrayC · powerD · sourD
- 2 AABBCC fordsA · affordsA · sapB · gapB · flowC · glowC
- 3 AABBCCDD thornA · hornA · wordB · swordB · zestC · digestC · bloodD · foodD
- 4 AABBCC earthA · forthA · sweetB · meetB · oversightC · rightC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic hexameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Alas! By one poor morsel, tasted through a sin, | 12 | ˘/···/˘/˘··· |
| The fount of thought’s congealed; heart’s blood diluted thin. | 12 | ····˘/··˘/˘· |
| One grain of wheat has cast eclipse o’er sun of mind, | 12 | ······˘/···· |
| As “dragon’s tail” doth dull the full moon, when inclined. | 12 | ·/˘·······˘/ |
| Behold! How delicate is thought! One mite of clay, | 12 | ˘/·/˘˘······ |
| From full-moon glory, it reduced to disarray. | 12 | ···/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| The bread of life, received, digested, gives man power. | 13 | ····˘//·˘··/˘ |
| Material bread excites distrusts, contentions, sour. | 12 | ˘/˘·˘/˘/˘/˘/ |
| The thorn, while green, cropped by the camel, far from fords, | 12 | ·······/˘··· |
| Not only pleasure gives, but nutriment affords. | 12 | ·/˘/˘··/˘˘˘/ |
| That selfsame thorn, grown dry and void of juicy sap, | 12 | ·/˘······/˘· |
| If ventured on by starving beast in desert gap, | 12 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘· |
| His palate and his lips will puncture, blood make flow; | 12 | ·/˘····/˘··· |
| As if conserve of roses should with daggers glow. | 12 | ··˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| The word of life’s the green, the tender, juicy thorn. | 12 | ·······/˘/˘· |
| Material become, it’s dry, as hard as horn. | 12 | ˘/˘˘˘/······ |
| And thou, poor flesh, expectant of the living word, | 12 | ····˘/˘··/˘· |
| Bitest at the word material, dreaming not of sword;— | 13 | ·····˘/˘/˘··· |
| Snappest at the hard, unyielding dictum, with fond zest; | 13 | /˘···˘/˘/˘··· |
| And findest it horny, flinty, irksome to digest. | 13 | ·/˘·/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| It has become a stone. It wounds; it draws forth blood. | 12 | ··˘/········ |
| Then shun it, human camel. Seek it not for food. | 12 | ···/˘/˘····· |
| Words are most foully mixed with troubling thoughts of earth. | 12 | ···/˘··/˘··· |
| The water’s muddy. Close the spring whence it comes forth. | 12 | ·/˘/˘······· |
| Until the Lord, again, shall make it clear and sweet;— | 12 | ····˘/······ |
| Shall purify the inky stream, as He deems meet,— | 12 | ·/˘··/˘····· |
| Shall patience add to wish,--not haste and oversight,— | 12 | ·/˘······/˘· |
| Wait thou contentedly. God best knows what is right. | 12 | ··˘/˘˘······ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.