Azizan
Rumi for kids: 10 short lines in Persian, with a simple meaning
Rumi, whom Persian speakers call Mowlana or Mowlavi, was a poet who wrote in Persian about 800 years ago. Below are ten short lines from his long poem, the Masnavi, in the original Persian, each with a transliteration, our own plain English, a one-sentence meaning for a child, and the book it comes from. We picked lines with a clear picture in them: a flute, an echo in the mountains, an elephant in a dark room, a well. Read one aloud, talk about the picture, and leave it there. Azizan (azizan.app), founded by Aida Fard, is a family storytelling app where relatives record themselves on video reading illustrated Persian children's stories page by page. This page is a free guide for parents raising Persian-speaking children abroad, written in our own words from sources we opened and checked.
Azizan (azizan.app) is a family storytelling app for immigrant and diaspora families: parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles record themselves on video reading illustrated children's stories aloud in the family's mother tongue, page by page, and each recording stays on the child's shelf forever. Real family voices — never AI narration. Persian (Farsi) first.
Who was Rumi?
Rumi was a poet who lived about 800 years ago and wrote in Persian. He was born in 1207 in the Balkh region, in today's Afghanistan. When he was a boy, his family made a very long journey west and finally settled in Konya, a city in today's Türkiye. By then he was a young man, and he became a teacher there, like his father. He wrote two big books of poems: the Masnavi, six books full of stories, and the Divan-e Shams, named after his close friend Shams of Tabriz. He died in Konya in 1273.
In English he is called Rumi. In Persian most people say Mowlana (مولانا) or Mowlavi (مولوی). If a grandparent says "Mowlana", they mean the same poet.
Many "Rumi quotes" online are not by Rumi
A lot of the lines shared online as Rumi quotes do not appear anywhere in his poems. Some are loose modern rewrites, and some were written by other people and given his name. That matters if you want your child to hear the real thing.
A simple check: a real Rumi line can be traced to a place, such as a book and line number of the Masnavi or a numbered ghazal in the Divan-e Shams, and it exists in Persian. If a quote has no Persian original and no book to point to, treat it as unverified. Every line on this page comes with its book and line number.
10 short Rumi lines for kids, with meanings
Each line below is one couplet from the Masnavi. The Persian is exactly as it appears in the poem. The English is our own plain wording, not a published translation. Line numbers follow the standard printed edition of the Masnavi.
بشنو این نی چون شکایت میکند
از جداییها حکایت میکندbeshnow in ney chon shekāyat mikonad / az jodāyi-hā hekāyat mikonad
In plain English: Hear this reed flute grumble and sigh; its song is all about being far apart.
For a child: The ney flute was cut from a reed bed, and its sound is the song of missing home.
Where: Masnavi, Book 1, line 1. This is the very first line of the whole poem. You may also hear it as بشنو از نی چون حکایت میکند / از جداییها شکایت میکند; both readings are well known.
هر کسی کو دور ماند از اصل خویش
باز جوید روزگار وصل خویشhar kasi ku dur mānd az asl-e khish / bāz juyad ruzgār-e vasl-e khish
In plain English: Anyone who ends up far from where they began keeps looking for the day they will be together again.
For a child: When we live far from grandma and grandpa, we keep waiting for the day we see them again.
Where: Masnavi, Book 1, line 4.
آرزو می‌خواه لیک اندازه خواه
برنتابد کوه را یک برگ کاهārezu mikhāh lik andāze khāh / bar-natābad kuh rā yek barg-e kāh
In plain English: Wish all you like, but keep the wish to a size you can carry; a single straw can't bear the weight of a mountain.
For a child: A tiny piece of straw can't carry a whole mountain on its back.
Where: Masnavi, Book 1, line 140.
این جهان کوه است و فعل ما ندا
سوی ما آید نداها را صداin jahān kuh ast o fe'l-e mā nedā / su-ye mā āyad nedā-hā rā sedā
In plain English: Think of the world as a mountain and everything we do as a shout; whatever we shout, the mountain sends back to us.
For a child: Shout "hello" at a mountain and "hello" comes back, and the things we do come back to us the same way.
Where: Masnavi, Book 1, line 215.
پس زبان محرمی خود دیگرست
همدلی از همزبانی بهترستpas zabān-e mahrami khod digar ast / hamdeli az hamzabāni behtar ast
In plain English: So friends who truly understand each other have a language of their own; feeling the same matters more than speaking the same words.
For a child: Knowing how your friend feels is even better than knowing the same words.
Where: Masnavi, Book 1, line 1207.
از محبت تلخ‌ها شیرین شود
از محبت مس‌ها زرین شودaz mohabbat talkh-hā shirin shavad / az mohabbat mes-hā zarrin shavad
In plain English: Love makes what tastes bitter taste sweet, and love turns plain copper into gold.
For a child: When someone you love gives you something, even a bitter melon can taste sweet.
Where: Masnavi, Book 2, line 1529, in the story of Luqman and the bitter melon.
پیل اندر خانهٔ تاریک بود
عرضه را آورده بودندش هنودpil andar khāne-ye tārik bud / arze rā āvarde budandash honud
In plain English: There was an elephant in a dark house; people from India had brought it there to show.
For a child: In the dark, one person touched the trunk, one the ear, one the leg, and each was sure the whole elephant was like that one part. With a candle, they would all have seen the same elephant.
Where: Masnavi, Book 3, line 1259, the start of the story of the elephant in the dark.
هر کسی را بهر کاری ساختند
میل آن را در دلش انداختندhar kasi rā bahr-e kāri sākhtand / meyl-e ān rā dar delash andākhtand
In plain English: Each person was made with some job in mind, and the love of that job was tucked into their heart.
For a child: Everybody has something they are made for, and the thing you love doing is a clue.
Where: Masnavi, Book 3, line 1618.
آب کم جو تشنگی آور به دست
تا بجوشد آب از بالا و پستāb kam ju teshnegi āvar be dast / tā bejushad āb az bālā o past
In plain English: Look less for water, become thirsty, and water will bubble up from above and below.
For a child: A baby doesn't go looking for milk. It gets hungry, it cries, and the milk comes.
Where: Masnavi, Book 3, line 3212.
چون ز چاهی می‌کنی هر روز خاک
عاقبت اندر رسی در آب پاکchon ze chāhi mikani har ruz khāk / āqebat andar rasi dar āb-e pāk
In plain English: Keep taking earth out of a well, a little every day, and one day you will strike clear water.
For a child: Dig a little every day and one day you find the water.
Where: Masnavi, Book 3, line 4784.
How to share a Rumi line with a child
One line is enough for one day. Pick the one with the clearest picture for your child's age: the echo, the elephant and the straw work well from about four, the flute and the well a little later.
- Read it aloud twice, slowly. These lines have a strong beat. Children often catch the rhythm before the words, and that is fine.
- Talk about one picture only. Ask about the thing in the line, not its meaning: "What does an echo sound like?" "What would you think an elephant is, if you only touched its ear?" Then say the child-level meaning in your own words.
- Make the picture real. Clap in a stairwell to hear an echo. Close your eyes and guess an object by touch. Put a blade of grass next to a stone.
- Come back to the same line. Saying it again over a week is how it sticks. Many children start finishing the second half themselves.
The line sounds best in a voice the child knows. A grandparent far away can read one couplet and its meaning on video, for example on Azizan, and the child can hear it again whenever they like. For more short classic poems, from Ferdowsi, Saadi and others, see short Persian poems for kids. For the Hafez custom at Yalda, see Fal-e Hafez for kids.
Related guides
Questions
Who was Rumi, in simple words?
Rumi, called Mowlana or Mowlavi in Persian, was a poet who wrote in Persian about 800 years ago. He was born in 1207 in the Balkh region, in today's Afghanistan, settled with his family in Konya, in today's Türkiye, and died there in 1273. His two best-known books are the Masnavi and the Divan-e Shams.
Are Rumi poems suitable for kids?
Many short lines are, especially the ones built around a clear picture: the reed flute, the echo in the mountains, the elephant in the dark, the well. Much of his poetry is about deep spiritual ideas that are better left for older readers, so choose single lines rather than whole poems.
What is the first line of the Masnavi?
«بشنو این نی چون شکایت میکند / از جداییها حکایت میکند», beshnow in ney chon shekāyat mikonad, az jodāyi-hā hekāyat mikonad: hear this reed flute grumble and sigh; its song is all about being far apart. A well-known variant reads «بشنو از نی چون حکایت میکند / از جداییها شکایت میکند».
How can I tell if a Rumi quote is real?
Look for the Persian original and a place it comes from, such as a book and line number of the Masnavi or a ghazal number in the Divan-e Shams. Many quotes shared online have neither, and some were written by other people in his name.
Are Rumi and Mowlana the same person?
Yes. Mowlana (مولانا) is the name most Persian speakers use for Rumi. You will also hear Mowlavi (مولوی). In English he is usually called Rumi.
Open Azizan — record a story for your childUpdated: 2026-11-03 · By Aida Fard
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