XXV: Patience and forbearance, turn man's nature into fire

Patience and forbearance, turn man's nature into fire:
The malevolent and the ill-willed, on its flame, shall be straw.

Fire reacheth the evil-minded, from their own persons--
The Phoenix maketh its own nest, a furnace for its body.

The arrows of the pangs of the oppressed, strike home--
None of the discharges are harmless--none miss the mark!

The world-enamoured are, of all fools, the greatest;
For, like the baby, they show eagerness for the flaming fire.

Every man, who, after a pestilence, desireth a market,
In his eagerness for physic, the worthless fellow, poison taketh.

They, who look for perfection out of arrogance, are fools;
For, in foul water, the necessary ablutions cannot be performed.

No one can restrain the passions from manifold wickedness:
No one can prevent fire from consuming straw.

When one benefit, out of a thousand such, thou hast not realized thereby,
Out upon such shameless, such execrable longings as those!

The world, slumbering in the sleep of negligence, heareth him not,
Though Hamid shouteth, as loud as the peal of a bell.