In Plain Sight

In terrā thēsaurus latet cēlātus

Quō crēdit nōn crēdit et abscondītus 

Id quod vīdī amōrem nōs cēlātum

Nūdī factī nōs palam in mōre sumus

Translation of Rūmī’s quatrain #1612, Foruzanfar, ed.; 

pg 21 in Houshmand’s Moon and Sun; 

quatrain #1471 in Gamard’s The Quatrains of Rumi.

See blog entry for October 31, 2021 about Latin and Persian poetry.

گــنجیست نهاده در زمین پوشـیده

از ملت کفر و اهل دل دین پوشیده

دیدم که عشق است یقــین پوشـیده

گــشتیم برهــنـــه از چـنـین پوشــیده

ganjīst nehāda dar zamīn pūshīda

az mellat-e kofr o ahl-e dīn pūshīda

dīdam ke eshq ast yaqīn pūshīda

gashtīm berahna az chonīn pūshīda

There is a treasure hidden in the ground, concealed.

From the nation of disbelievers and the people of the religion concealed.

I saw that it is love for certain concealed.

We became naked from such, concealed.

Rūmī wants to point out a simple truth: love abideth in us all. Those caught up in religion or athesism often cannot see what is in plain sight. But once we see what was always there, we become exposed, naked, unadorned, perhaps—in the Latin sense of nūdus—empty of all other thoughts. We become naked because what was covered—perhaps our hearts—becomes uncovered.

Gamard in his explanation of the last line says that the Persian word برهنه [berahna] “naked, bared”  “has the suggestion of being crazed by mystical love, like a crazy person who is indifferent about being unclothed. Such a person cannot conceal his mystical state.”

Certainly the last line is intriguing, but it is the first line that interests me the most. Why is the treasure hidden and why is it hidden in the ground? Buried treasure is a powerful metaphor and sets us up for the revelation that love is the treasure found in all of us and that we must be prospectors to find it. We must ignore what is unimportant and concentrate on the treasure, perhaps even ignore the treasure map given to us by religious zealots and atheists alike. 

But maybe there is more to be found in this metaphor. Zamīn [زمین] “earth, land, ground” is the word Rūmī uses in Persian. This leads me to the synonym xāk [خاک] “earth, ground, dirt,” a Persian word we use in English to signify a dusty brown: khaki. By extension Persians use this word to mean “mortals,” since we will all turn to dust one day. And because of this, they literally call this world, as opposed to the next world, “a dust-bin” xākdān [خاکدان]. To me, this thought gives a better understanding of the first line: there is the treasure of love hidden in our mortal selves. We will never see it unless we “see” it with an open heart.

Here is a free translation:

There’s a treasure hidden within

hidden from Muslim and infidel

But I found it! It was love.

How naked I feel, how exposed!