Why another poem?
Your Worth
You know the value of every article of merchandise,
but if you don’t know the value of your own soul,
it’s all foolishness.
You’ve come to know the fortunate and the inauspicious stars,
but you don’t know whether you yourself
are fortunate or lucky.
This, is the essence of all sciences –
That you should know who you will be
When the Day of Reckoning arrives.
Rumi
Mathnawi III, 2652 - 2654
Translated by Kabir Helminski and Camille Helminski
Excerpt from The Rumi Collection (Shambala Classics, 1998)