A Slave of Troubles (3/27/2022)

A Slave of Troubles (3/27/2022)

You were our playmate. What has happened to you?

This is the assembly of souls.

Why are you silenced and petrified?

Before, you were like the iris or cypress, free from sorrows.

Now, after becoming rich and famous,

you are a slave of troubles.

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 399.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx. pub. 10/2022), Rubai 847, volume 2.

Burn That Thing (12/19/2021)

Burn That Thing (12/19/2021)

O my Beloved, accept me. Take my soul.

Let me pass through both worlds.

If I settle down with anything other than You,

throw me into the fire and burn that thing.

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 3, page 353.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx. pub. 5/2022), Rubai 761, Volume 2)

About Death (9/19/2021)

About Death (9/19/2021)

Your soul is a guest of your body for only a couple of days.

Yet, you have become so attached to this Earth

that you don’t want to listen when I talk about death.

Your soul is longing for that mansion –

that “death before death.”*

Unfortunately, your body’s donkey

has fallen asleep in the middle of the road.

*Total destruction of the self before the death of the body.

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 2, page 80.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (approx. pub. date 3/2022), Rubai 108, Volume 1.

This Dog (8/8/2021)

This Dog (8/8/2021)

I thought I could control the dog of my selfishness

by putting on him the chain of repentance.

Although he is getting tired and old,

whenever he sees a carcass,

he breaks the chain and attacks.

What can I do with this dog?

Rubailer (2016), Rubai #2, page 338.

A Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (tent. pub. 12/21), Rubai 717, Volume 2.

Trying to Find Me (7/11/2021)

Trying to Find Me (7/11/2021)

I stopped over at a tavern one day.

There, I started to tear my patched-up body-cloak into pieces.

While everyone else was busy with their own affairs,

I was busy destroying my self, trying to find Me.

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 3, page 326.

A Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (tentative pub. date 12/1/21), Vol. 2 of 4, Rubai 691.