M6:1818 — هم‌چو یخ کاندر تموز مستجد / هر دم افسانهٔ زمستان می‌کند

Translation: Like ice, that in a freshly arrived tamūz (summer), / Each moment narrates the legend of zemestān (winter). Meaning: This verse describes how everything in this world, though separated from its origin and in a new state, perpetually recounts the story of its source, much like ice in summer speaks of winter.

This verse is one of those pivotal passages where Rumi’s entire being manifests. We see here that ice in a freshly arrived tamūz (summer) narrates the legend of winter, it does not complain about summer. This precise nuance is the very essence of Rumi's message, as emphasized in the opening verse of the Masnavi: "Listen to this reed as it complains / As it narrates tales of separations.". I have repeatedly stressed that the correct reading of that initial verse is that the reed narrates separations, it does not complain. Here too, ice in the new summer is a narrator of winter, not a complainer about summer. It is through such instances that we understand Rumi's worldview: he does not see the world as crooked to be lamented; rather, the world is a perfect mirror of existence, where every phenomenon carries within it the memory of its origin and recounts it.

Ice in summer is a witness to divine justice. Where does it come from? From winter, from the cold, from where it crystallized and took form. Now, in the heat of a new summer, its essence does not simply evaporate or melt; rather, it "narrates the legend of winter." It tells the story of its origin, of the land from which it emerged. This "winter" for the ice is the equivalent of the "reed-bed (neyestān)" for the reed, or the "unseen world (ʿālam-i ghayb)" for the human soul. Just as the reed is cut from its reed-bed and now laments in this world, narrating separation, so too does the ice in summer, far from its source, retell the story of its origin. This is a clear and decisive parable to convey the idea that every phenomenon in this world carries a trace of its origin and, in a language, however silent, narrates that origin.

Indeed, Rumi expands this analogy with fruit in winter: "Like that fruit which, in the time of shatā (winter), / Narrates the legend of God's grace.". Fruit in winter, the product of the sun's grace, the "smiles of the sun (tabassum-hā-yi shams)" and the "touch and effacement (lams va tams) of the garden brides (ʿarūsān-i chaman)" in summer, now in the cold, narrates the legend of that summer and that divine grace. This enigmatic language of nature is Rumi's own. If Rumi had been aware of the story of photosynthesis, what wonders he would have uttered! How light cohabits with the leaf, penetrates it, and impregnates it with fruit, which now in winter, retells the story of that marvelous union.

This verse imparts a profound lesson: separation from the origin is not a catastrophe; rather, it is an indispensable part of the journey. This separation leads neither to loneliness nor to complaint. Separation carries within it the memory of reunion, and at any moment, it can transform into the "legend" of that reunion. This is not a lamentation of the present state, but a deep remembrance of the accustomed state. Ice does not complain about winter, nor fruit about summer; rather, both acknowledge their current existence as indebted to their past and recount it to the receptive ear of every listener. This is precisely the "travelogue of the soul" that Rumi presents in the Masnavi.

Key takeaways

• Rumi's core message is that the world is not a source of complaint, but a wellspring of narratives.
• Ice in summer symbolizes every phenomenon that carries the memory of its origin.
• The ice's 'narration of winter' is equivalent to the reed's 'tale of separation'; it is not a lament.
• Rumi perceives nature as replete with symbolic language, speaking of 'God's grace' and the 'sun's smiles'.
• Separation from the origin, in Rumi's view, is not a catastrophe, but a journey that keeps the memory of reunion alive.
• This verse emphasizes that beings not only derive their identity from the past but also actively narrate it.