Central motif

Jami frames the world (گیتی) as a caravanserai (رباط) built with two doors — one for arrival (birth) and one for departure (death) — through which travelers endlessly pass. As one guest enters, another leaves 'with blood of the heart,' and there is no escape from this ceaseless coming and going.

The counsel

Because a wayfarer who lingers cannot truly settle in a mere waystation, the far-sighted, 'end-minded' traveler should turn toward the true homeland from the very start of the road. The poem therefore warns against building gardens, halls, and palaces in this passing abode.

The cautionary image

Jami points to those who planted gardens before us: the hail of death, falling from a rainless cloud, has left them neither branch nor leaf. The ruined garden becomes the emblem of worldly ambition undone by mortality — a specific reading of the classic theme of the faithless, transient world (بی‌وفایی دنیا).