XIII
STORY OF THE DIAMOND AND THE COAL| NOW I will open one more gate of truth, | |
| I will tell thee another tale. | |
| The coal in the mine said the diamond. | |
| O thou entrusted with splendours eve lasting. | |
| We are comrades, and our being is one; | 1195 |
| The source of our existence is the same, | |
| Yet while I die here in the anguish of worthlessness, | |
| Thou art set on the crowns of emperors. | |
| My stuff is so vile that I am valued less than earth, | |
| Whereas the mirror's heart is rent by thy beauty, | 1200 |
| My darkness illumines the chafing dish, | |
| Then my substance is incinerated at last | |
| Every one puts the sole of his foot on my head | |
| And covers my stock of existence with ashes. | |
| My fate must needs be deplored: | 1205 |
| Dost thou know what is the gist of my being | |
| It is a condensed wavelet of smoke, | |
| Endowed with a single spark.92 | |
| Both in, feature and nature thou art star-like, | |
| Splendours rise from every side of thee. | 1210 |
| Now thou become'st the light of a monarch's eye, | |
| Now thou adornest the haft of a dagger." | |
| "O sagacious friend!" said the diamond, | |
| "Dark earth, when hardened, becomes in dignity as a bezel. | |
| Having been at strife with its environment, | 1215 |
| It is ripened by the struggle and grows hard like a stone. | |
| 'Tis this ripeness that has endowed my form with light. | |
| And filled my bossom with radiance. | |
| Because thy being is immature, thou hast become abased; | |
| Because thy body is soft, thou art burnt. | 1220 |
| Be void of fear, grief, and anxiety; | |
| Be hard as a stone, be a diamond! | |
| Whosoever strives hard and grips tight, | |
| The two worlds are illumined by him. | |
| A little earth is the origin of the Black Stone | 1225 |
| Which puts forth its head in the Ka’aba: | |
| Its rank is higher than Sinai, | |
| It is kissed by the swarthy and the fair. | |
| In solidity consists the glory of Life: | |
| Weakness is worthlessness and immaturity." | 1230 |