M6:4618 — تا به دریا سیر اسپ و زین بود / بعد ازینت مرکب چوبین بود

Translation: Until the sea, your journey is by horse and saddle; After that, your conveyance will be of wood.

Meaning: This verse speaks to the transience of material life and the inevitability of death. Rumi conveys that while one's worldly journey is undertaken with physical means, it eventually culminates in a journey by a wooden conveyance—a coffin—marking the passage to another realm.

This verse appears at the very end of the sixth book of the Masnavi, a point where Rumi explicitly speaks of the conclusion of his life and his ultimate journey. As I have noted, Book Six, more than any other, carries the scent of death; Rumi speaks with a sense of 'fatigue' and 'contemplation of annihilation,' as if inhaling the perfume of ultimate union. Here, he directly addresses the boundary between earthly life and the journey into the hereafter.

The 'journey by horse and saddle' (سیر اسب و زین) is an idiom for traversing this terrestrial world and our bodily existence. It is a journey undertaken with material, discernible tools, observable and narratable, continuing as long as one is alive in this world. However, Rumi immediately cautions that this mode of travel has an end. 'Until the sea' (تا به دریا) can be interpreted here as the ultimate boundary of earthly life, perhaps the very 'sea of death.'

But the phrase 'After that, your conveyance will be of wood' (بعد از آنت مرکب چوبین بود) is a stark and unveiled reference to the coffin and the journey after death. This journey can no longer be made with horses, saddles, or worldly instruments; its conveyance is 'wooden,' meaning a coffin. This verse, along with preceding lines where Rumi states, 'These tales can be told up to this point; whatever comes after must be concealed' (این حکایت‌ها بدینجا گفتنی‌ست / هر چه آید زین سپس بنهفتنی‌ست), functions as a mystical unveiling of the physical path's end and the beginning of the soul's hidden, ineffable voyage. Rumi implies that some truths cannot be articulated in the language of this world; beyond this boundary, all falls within the realm of the 'concealed.'

In essence, this verse is not a lament about death, but a gnostic acknowledgment of the flow of existence and a transition from one stage to another. Rumi perceives the journey of death as an integral part of ultimate union and annihilation. He is a 'death-contemplating mystic' (arif-e marg-andish), one who views death not as an end, but as the gateway to true union and perfection. Thus, this 'wooden conveyance' is not fearsome, but rather a harbinger of the journey towards the Beloved, a journey that has been his lifelong aspiration.

Key takeaways

• This verse, found at the end of Book Six, reflects Rumi's awareness of life's conclusion and the approaching of death.
• The 'journey by horse and saddle' symbolizes worldly life and the physical journey, undertaken with material means.
• The 'wooden conveyance' is a direct reference to the coffin, signifying the commencement of the spiritual journey after death.
• Rumi perceives death not as an end, but as a gateway to ultimate union and annihilation; he is a 'death-contemplating mystic' (arif-e marg-andish).
• The verse delineates the boundary between expressible (worldly) truths and ineffable (otherworldly) realities.