Rumi - The Heart Hides Secrets In Shame Poem by Ravi Kopra

XIII


Dismiss cares and be utterly clear of heart,
Like the face of a mirror without image and picture.
When it becomes clear of images, all images are contained in it;
No man's face is ashamed of that clear-faced one.
Wouldst thou have a clear mirror, behold thyself therein,
For it is not ashamed or afraid of telling the truth.
Since the steel face gained this purity by discrimination,
What needs the heart's face, which has no dust?
But betwixt the steel and the heart is this difference,
That the one is a keeper of secrets, while the other is not.

-from Divani Shamsi Tabriz,
Edited and Translated by R. A. Nicholson
Ist published in 1898