One cannot reflect our fire,
nor can one articulate the secrets of our heart.
Our early morning sighs are not confidants with whom we share our troubles,
nor is a friendly soul even to be found to hear those sighs.
We are not the pearl which has been found in the sea,
nor are we a sea which ever rests.
We are not the meaning which comes from words,
nor are we words which can be said.
Language is like a canal for meanings.
But, how could such a sea fit in this canal?
Every piece of the soul’s world makes a new world,
but such a new world could never fit in someone’s mouth.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 19, ghazal 269, verses 2756-2761, page 121.