"That root must be cherished with all one's might"

Are you fleeing from Love because of a single humiliation?
What do you know of Love except the name?
Love has a hundred forms of pride and disdain,
and is gained by a hundred means of persuasion.
Since Love is loyal, it purchases one who is loyal:
it has no interest in a disloyal companion.
The human being resembles a tree; its root is a covenant with God:
that root must be cherished with all one's might.
A weak covenant is a rotten root, without grace or fruit.
Though the boughs and leaves of the date palm are green,
greenness brings no benefit if the root is corrupt.
If a branch is without green leaves, yet has a good root,
a hundred leaves will put forth their hands in the end.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To be-yek khvâri gorizâni ze `Eshq?
to be-joz-e nâmi cheh mi dâni ze `Eshq?
`Eshq-râ sad nâz o estekbâr hast
`Eshq bâ sad nâz mi âyad be-dast
`Eshq chon vâfiyast vâfi mi kharad
dar harif-e bi vafâ mi na-negarad
Chon derakhtast âdami va bikh `ahd
bikh-râ timâr mi bâyad be-jahd
`Ahd-e fâsed bikh-e pusideh bud
vaz semâr o lotf be-borideh bud
Shâkh o barg-e nakhl garcheh sabz bud
bâ fasâd-e bikh sabzi nist sud
Var na-dâri barg-e sabz, va bikh hast
`âqebat birun konad sad barg dast

-- Mathnawi V:1163-1169
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance
Threshold Books, 1996
Transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

The Persian image:
http://tinyurl.com/s4od9

The English image:
http://tinyurl.com/ld8em

The Persian recitation:
http://tinyurl.com/m9ean

A Persian interpretation:
http://tinyurl.com/pr4rr

"That root must be cherished with all one's might"