Spit at the Moon

Lesson 294: Spit at the Moon

Spit at the moon: the spit flies back in your eyes;
Try to tear His robe, it's your own that tatters.
A million million fools boil angrily in this Cauldron
Don't you know yet resignation is the way to Truth?
One day a hedgehog swallowed the tail of a snake,
Threw back its head, rolled itself into a ball.
And what did the snake do? Poor idiot!
It rammed itself against the hedgehog's spines
And screamed and died, riddled all over with wounds.
Had it had patience, it might have wriggled free.

- Jalal-ud-Din Rumi

(Translated by Andrew Harvey from A Year of Rumi)