Overview

In Poem 35 of Chapter 47 in Mokhtar Nameh, Attar utilizes the double meaning of the Persian verb koshtan (meaning both 'to kill' a human and 'to extinguish' a candle) to express the existential suffering of the mystic or lover who is treated as a mere instrument of illumination in gatherings.

The Double Meaning of Koshtan

The speaker identifies themselves with a candle, which is burned for the utility of the assembly (jam') and then extinguished when daylight arrives.

• Burning and Melting: The candle must burn to give light, representing the mystic's self-sacrifice and spiritual illumination.
• Killing/Extinguishing: By daybreak, or when its utility ends, it is extinguished. The verb koshtan beautifully overlays the literal death of the speaker with the extinguishing of the flame.

The Existential Question

The second couplet poses a rhetorical question: if the speaker is not actually a physical candle, why do others subject them to the same c...