Read› Daftar 1› The story of the merchant whose caged parrot gave a message to the parrots of Hindustan when he went on a journey› beyt 1578
M1:1578 — این عجب بلبل که بگشاید دهان / تا خورد او خار را با گلستان
M1:1578
Meaning · به زبانِ تو — Your language · AI
The true lover of God is a strange and wondrous being, embracing both the pain (the thorn) and the pleasure (the rose garden) that come from the Beloved.
This couplet concludes a short, intense passage where the speaker, a mystic lover, declares their love for both God's gentleness (luṭf) and His severity (qahr). The preceding lines establish this paradox: "How wondrous, I am a lover of these two opposites!" (M1:1576).
The nightingale is a classic symbol of the lover, and the rose (or rose garden) symbolizes the Beloved. Normally, the nightingale seeks only the rose. Rumi presents a "wondrous nightingale" (ʿajab bulbul), one whose love is so total that it doesn't just tolerate the painful thorns to get to the sweet rose; it consumes them together, as an inseparable package. The thorn is no longer an obstacle to be avoided but an integral part of the experience of the Beloved, accepted and even welcomed.
In the next line (M1:1579), Rumi immediately intensifies this image, saying this is no mere nightingale but a "fiery sea-dragon" for whom all unpleasant things become pleasant through love. The point is that for the perfected lover, the distinction between divine wrath and grace collapses; both are simply expressions of the one Beloved, and therefore both are a source of joy.
- عجب
- Wondrous, strange, amazing. From Arabic (ʿajab). It signals a phenomenon that defies ordinary logic or expectation, which is central to the couplet's meaning.
- بلبل
- The nightingale. In Persian poetry, the archetypal lover, famous for its passionate, melancholic song of love for the rose.
- خار
- Thorn. Symbolically, it represents pain, hardship, severity, or anything that stands between the lover and the beloved. Here, it stands for God's wrath (*qahr*).
- گلستان
- Rose garden. Symbolically, it represents the Beloved (God), beauty, divine grace (*luṭf*), and spiritual bliss.
Discussion — Ask about this beyt — answered from the Masnavi, every verse cited
Your conversation stays on this device unless you share it.
What readers asked0
No questions shared yet — yours could be the first.