| 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." |
