O heart, go. Go.
Turn to blood like you used to be.
Go to the valley and plain where you used to be. Continue reading “Where You Used to Be (8/1/2021)”
O heart, go. Go.
Turn to blood like you used to be.
Go to the valley and plain where you used to be. Continue reading “Where You Used to Be (8/1/2021)”
I became exuberant when that pearl emerged in me.
I was turned into a rough sea by that storm.
I revealed the secrets of the ocean,
secrets shaken out with thunder.
Then, I slept on the shore like an empty cloud.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 329.
A Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (tent. pub. 12/1/2021), Volume 2, Rubai 696.
O Beloved, You flew away from this narrow cage.
You freed Yourself from this dungeon of robbers and pickpockets.
You cleaned the dirt and dust from the surface of the mirror.
You saw whatever was in that mirror.
You had been hearing, here and there, some news.
You went to that exalted world
and saw that news with Your own eyes.
You left earth and water to the Earth and water.
Then, You took the substance of the soul
and pulled it to the sky.
You became tired of being around the body.
You preferred to go with the soul.
You freed Yourself from the mother womb
which is this world
and ran to the father of intelligence.
Drink the wine which sweetens the soul with every breath
in exchange for the suffering we gave You.
Since You left, the whole Universe has chosen us.
Now, take anything You choose.
You went from this Earth’s saucepan
to the table of the other world,
because You were cooked.
The egg became empty, without a bird,
because you got out of this Earth’s egg
and flew away.
From now on, You will never fit in this world.
Keep flying through it. You like to fly.
Be silent. Go away.
They opened Your lock.
Death matched You for the key.
Divan-i Kebir, Ghazal 230, verses 2350-2361, pages 52-53.
You cut me off like an umbilical cord in the name of drunkenness.
Even then, O Cupbearer, why did You leave me?
You create such Love with every breath.
O One who makes everything appear,
why are You not apparent? Continue reading “Focus Your Eyes on Absence (7/4/2021)”
Once this Love arrived, all other loves disappeared.
Because of my longing for You,
I was burned and turned into ashes.
My ashes scattered and disappeared.
Then, they came back, forming thousands of shapes again.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 3, page 220.
A Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translation, Volume 1 (pub. Nov. 2021), Rubai 430.
I have twisted and wriggled like a snake
because of someone’s charms.
I have been curled up like the hair of the Beloved.
By God, I don’t know what kind of twist that is.
All I know is that suffering annihilates me,
carrying me from existence to Nothingness.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #2, page 318.
A Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translation (pub. 11/2021), Rubai 673, vol. 2.
If He destroys hundreds like me, that causes no sorrow for Him.
You fall in Love. He doesn’t care.
Your heart is broken. He has many others.
He asks, “Why can’t your eyes see the wine?”
What can they do?
They are always wet in front of Your sun. Continue reading “Glory after Glory (4/11/2021)”
The Beloved’s heart is burning for me.
Its flame has turned the Earth’s harvest into ashes.
A candle put a fire in the heart of this slave,
such a candle that it has made a soul of iron and stone
melt like a candle. Continue reading “Fire (3/14/2021)”
Don’t think that I have run away from you
or that I have given my heart to someone else.
I am not tied to anyone or anything.
Because I am separated from my origin, I am a stranger here.
And, I am running like a torrent into the sea of the Beloved.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #1, page 315.
I wasn’t as insane as I am now.
I wasn’t out of my mind like this before.
I used to be prudent and wise once,
not crazy and insane like I am now. Continue reading “I am the Treasure (2/28/2021)”