A Thought and A Quest

(Credit : Chet Phillips)

 

Even though you're not equipped,
keep searching:
 

equipment isn't necessary on the way to the Lord.
 

Whoever you see engaged in search,
become her friend and cast your head in front of her,
 

for choosing to be a neighbor of seekers,
you become one yourself;
protected by conquerors,
 

you will yourself learn to conquer.
 

If an ant seeks the rank of Solomon,
don't smile contemptuously upon its quest.
 

Everything you possess of skill, and wealth and handicraft,
wasn't it first merely a thought and a quest?


Mathnawi III: 1445-1449
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996