Visions and Reality

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When a person sees a reflection of apples in the river,
and the sight of them fills her skirt with real apples,
how should that which she saw in the river be a fantasy,
when a hundred sacks have been filled by her vision?
Don't pay attention to the body, and don't act
like those deaf and dumb ones*
who disbelieved in the Truth when it came to them.

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Chon darin ju did `aks-e sib mard
Dâmanesh-râ did ân por sib kard
ncheh dar ju did kay bâshad khayâl
chonkeh shod az didanesh por sad jovâl
Tan ma-bin va ân ma-kon k-ân bukm o summ*
kadhdhabû bi-al-Haqqi lammâ jâ'ahum

-- Mathnawi VI:3194-3196
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

*al-Baqarah, 171

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Visions and Reality