"Don’t set your heart on bones"

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Little by little God takes away human beauty:
little by little the sapling withers.
Go, recite "To whomever We give a length of days,
We also cause them to decline."*
Seek the spirit;
don't set your heart on bones.

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Andak-e andak mi setânad ân jamâl
andak-e andak khoshk mi gardad nehâl
Raw "nu`ammiruhu nunakkis'hu" be-khvân
del talab kon del ma-neh bar estekhvân

-- Mathnawi, II:714-715
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Daylight"
Threshold Books, 1994
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyل Monastra

* Quran 36:68

The media:
http://tinyurl.com/2to287

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"Don’t set your heart on bones"