[Sunlight] Nothing but a figure of clay

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Wealth has no permanence: it comes in the morning,
and at night it is scattered to the winds.
Physical beauty too has no importance,
for a rosy face is made pale by the scratch of a single thorn.
Noble birth also is of small account,
for many become fools of money and horses.
Many a nobleman's son has disgraced his father by his wicked deeds.
Don't court a person full of talent either,
even if he seems exquisite in that respect:
take warning from the example of Iblis.
Iblis had knowledge, but since his love was not pure,
he saw in Adam nothing but a figure of clay.

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Goft khvâjeh mâl-râ na-bud sabât
ruz âyad shab ravad andar jehât
Hosn-e surat ham na-dârad e`tebâr
keh shavad rokh zard az yek zakhm-e khâr
Sahl bâshad niz mehtarzâdegi
keh bud gherreh beh-mâl o bâragi
Ay basâ mehtarbachcheh keh shur o sharr
shod ze fe`l-e zesht khvod nang-e pedar
Por honar-râ niz agar bâshad nafis
kam parast o `ebrati gir az Belis
`Elm budesh chon na-budesh `eshq din
u na-did az dam ellâ naqsh-e tin

-- Mathnawi VI: 255-260
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)

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[Sunlight] Nothing but a figure of clay