"The way is full of genuine sacrifice.

The thickets blocking your path are anything
that keeps you from that, any fear
that you may be broken into bits like a glass bottle.
This road demands courage and stamina,
yet it’s full of footprints!
Who are these companions?
They are rungs in your ladder. Use them!
With company you quicken your ascent.

You may be happy enough going along,
but with others you’ll get farther, and faster.

Someone who goes cheerfully by himself
to the customs house to pay his traveler’s tax
will go even more lightheartedly
when friends are with him.

Every prophet sought out companions.
A wall standing alone is useless,
but put three or four walls together,
and they’ll support a roof and keep
grain dry and safe.

When ink joins with a pen, then the blank paper
can say something. Rushes and reeds must be woven
to be useful as a mat. If they weren’t interlaced,
the wind would blow them away.

Like that, God paired up creatures,
and gave them friendship."

This is how the fowler and the bird were arguing
about hermetic living and Islam.

It's a prolonged debate.
Husam, shorten their controversy.
Make the Mathnawi more nimble and less lumbering.
Agile sounds are more appealing to the heart's ear.

A poem by Jalal al-Din Rumi, excerpted from The Essential Rumi by Coleman Barks