Endure (3/12/2023)

Endure (3/12/2023)

O heart, if you cannot endure the troubles of Love, go away.

If you don’t give up your life, you will never reach the Beloved.

If you haven’t been thrown, as Abraham was, into the fire,

you will never find, as Khidr* did, the Water of Life.

*Khidr  A legendary man who is said to have attained immortality by drinking from the Water of Life and who comes to help those in moments of extreme distress.

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 4, page 449.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub.Fall 2023), Rubai 959, Volume 3.

Someday (2/12/2023)

Someday (2/12/2023)

Someday this branch full of flowers will bear fruit.

Someday this falcon of desire will catch its prey.

Today His image appears and disappears.

But, the time will come when it will stay.

Rubailer (2016), Rubai 4, page 440.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub. 11/2023), Rubai 937.

I Won’t Leave You in the Middle of the Road (1/8/2023)

I Won’t Leave You in the Middle of the Road (1/8/2023)

I came to grab you by the ear and drag you away.
I came to leave you without a heart, without a self.
I came to put you inside of My heart.

O rose sapling, I came to embrace you like a beautiful spring,
to scatter you here and there and everywhere.

I came to charm you in this palace,
to raise you above the sky like the prayers of lovers. Continue reading “I Won’t Leave You in the Middle of the Road (1/8/2023)”

Sometimes (11/20/2022)

Sometimes (11/20/2022)

O heart, what did you find in all of your lootings,

in those pillagings where you spread out all of your belongings?

What did you find before you closed the door?

 

In this ruined building, you still keep making webs with your own saliva

in order to catch flies like the spider of greed. Continue reading “Sometimes (11/20/2022)”

The Only Way to Reach Eternity (10/23/2022)

Every moment, Your kindness follows after sorrow.

If this were not so, no one could stand this suffering.

 

Make me constantly drunk

with the wine which gives no hangover.

I don’t want any other wine.

 

We are the reed bed.

He is the fire, and we are waiting to be burned. Continue reading “The Only Way to Reach Eternity (10/23/2022)”

It’s better to be a Fool with Love… (10/2/2022)

Be a Fool with Love (10/2/2022)

It’s better to be a fool with Love than to be a wise scholar,

better to become dirt on the road than to be a moon in the sky.

Become one with good and bad, young and old.

Be a pawn, then a vizier, then later, a king.

Rubailer (2016), rubai 4, page 391.

The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations (apprx.pub. 7/2023), rubai 894, volume 2.