Just so an ant who saw a pen writing on paper
delivered himself to another ant this way
'That pen is making very wonderful figures,
Like hyacinths and lilies and roses.'
The other said,' The finger is the real worker,
the pen is only the instrument of its working.'
A third ant said,'No; the action proceeds from the arm,
the weak finger writes with the arm's might.'
So it went on upwards, till at last
A prince of the ants, who had some wit
said, 'Ye regard only the outward form of this marvel,
Which form becomes senseless in sleep and death
Form is only as a dress or a staff in the hand
It is only from reason and mind these figures proceed.'
Masnavi - Book 4:9
Rumi : Works of the Great Philopher, Poet and Mystic
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