quatrain 257

From sunlight, two versions of quatrain #257:

Beyond this world and life we know
there is Someone watching over us.
To know Him is not in our power.
But once in a glimpse I saw
that we are His shadow
and our shadow is
the world.

Translation by Azima Melita Kolin and Maryam Mafi
Rumi: Hidden Music
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, 2001

out of this world and our lives
there is someone
who is nursing us
the one whom we
can never comprehend
i only know this much
we are the shadow
of this one
and the world is
the shadow of us

Translation by Nader Khalili
Rumi, Dancing the Flame
Cal-Earth Press, 2001

I prefer the Khalili version because "comprehend" is more precise than "know" and because the "someone" has no gender.
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