Bitter Grapes
O my soul, they found a way to make sugar out of sugarcane.
They learned how to weave silk from the matter of mulberry leaves.
Be patient.
Bitter grapes become halva with time.
*halva Sweetmeats.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #2, page 157.
The Soul Keeps Flying (3/22/2020)
Come soon, so we can throw off the mantle of our body
and, in that moment, demolish and flatten the house of our existence. Continue reading
Fate is a Means to Reach Absence (3/15/2020)
Fate is not a slave
to our opinions, our thinking, our petty desires.
Existence is a means to reach Absence.
Our nanny is behind the curtain.
In fact, we are not here. What you see is merely our shadow.
Rubailer (2016), Page 130, Rubai #3.
A Sign Has Appeared from Love (3/8/2020)
Just now, ruby-colored tears have started seeping from my eyes.
A sign has appeared from Love, yet a trace of Love’s dust never appears. Continue reading
The Sound of the Key (3/1/2020)
I am a mountain. I am echoing the Beloved.
I am a painting. That Beauty is my painter.
Do you think all these words I say belong to me?
No. They are the sound of the key turning in the lock.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #1, page 128.
Such a Love (2/23/2020)
I need such a Beloved that my soul will hold His stirrup.
I need such a musician that Venus will die in front of Him. Continue reading
Lovers of Love (2/16/2020)
We are the lovers of Love. Love is our salvation.
The soul resembles Hizir.* Love resembles the Water of Life.
Alas to the one who is not decorated by the Sultan of Love.
How could an animal know the soul’s sugar?
*Hizir A legendary Godsend who attained immortality by drinking from the Water of Life and who comes to aid in a critical moment (also known as Khidr).
Rubailer (2016), Rubai, Rubai #2, page 134.
Make Sure You Learn This Sign (2/9/2020)
Something is striking like lightning.
I wonder if that is my heart captivating the Beloved.
What is shining from that corner?
Is that the ruby mine?
What is around that pearl?
Is it the Moon or a star?
It is suspended like a lamp made of divine light.
I wonder. Is it soul’s lamp or perhaps a sacred, bejeweled flag?
Could it be that candle which has no end to its light?
O heart, raise your head. Your eyes are sharp.
Rub your eyes and look carefully.
He is all that you can see.
When you can scatter pearls from Him,
no one will be able to see a trace of you.
Make sure you learn this sign.
It should be a symbol between us.
When you see His blaze and brightness,
go under His wing and be annihilated,
because the valuable egg also stays under the chicken.
When we come forward, He disappears.
But, if we stay away, He appears.
He stands, moves and appears.
But, He doesn’t stand, move or appear in place or time.
He is totally timeless and spaceless.
When you move water,
His light, which is reflected on the water, also moves.
That is the way you can see Him.
But, He is in the sky.
He is not this, not that.
He is the goodness of religion and God.
If you still dare to say He is someone else,
go ahead and say it.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 15, Ghazal 29, verses 353-362, pages 69-70.
Just Look (2/2/2020)
When grief covers everywhere, everything,
the one who grabs Love becomes carefree.
Just look at the particle.
When it touched Love, it turned into a shape
which created universes.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #1, page 116.
O Heart, Be Brave (j1/26/2020)
He is such a Beauty that He teaches endearing behaviors
to the Moon and Venus all night long.
Both of His eyes cover the eyes of the sky with magic.
O religious ones, save your hearts,
because I have merged so much with Him
that my heart cannot join me to anyone anymore.
First, I was born from Love.
Then, I gave my heart to Him,
just like the fruit that comes from the branch.
In the end, it hangs onto that branch.
I am running away from my shadow,
because it is hiding the light.
How could someone who runs away from his own shadow be settled?
His hair says, “Where is that acrobat who plays with rope?
Have him come back soon.”
His face, which resembles a candle, says,
“Where is the moth? Have it come and burn itself.”
O heart, be brave in the game.
Submit yourself.
When His candle flares up, throw yourself into it.
Once you feel the pleasure of His burning,
you will not be able to get enough of it.
Even the fountain of life
will not be able to separate you from that fire.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 15, Ghazal #28, verses 346-352, pages 67-68.
How Can We Escape (1/19/20)
Love came and broke my regret as if it were a bottle.
How can we escape
Love’s constant breaking and repairing?
Who can repair a broken bottle except Love?
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #3, page 112.
How Lucky (1/12/10)
The soul’s Sultan pushes us from one play to another
as if we were pawns in a chess game.
I wonder if He wins. I wonder if He is ever checkmated.
After all, aren’t we the ones on trial?
He picked up our particles, gathered them together,
then kneaded them with the universe to make a paste.
He pierced our noses and inserted reins made of greed and lust
in order to pull us around the world like camels.
Who are we?
He put an oxen’s bell on the neck of the sky
and keeps crushing us under that sky as if we were sesame.
How lucky is that camel who has been tied by the halter of God’s Love.
He makes us drunk and excited while we are among the other camels.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 15, Ghazal 6, verses 48-52, page 11.
There is a Way (1/5/20)
O confused heart, the way to the Beloved is through your soul.
O one who has lost his way, there is a road to the Beloved
which is both known and unknown.
Don’t worry if your way is blocked from all six directions.
There is a way right from the bottom of your heart.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #, page 109. #3
No Place for Water and Earth (12/29/19)
Look at these fragments of soul
which have been chipped off, sparkling in this valley.
Watch this sea. Watch these ships
as they collide with each other. Continue reading
Love Has Arrived (12/22/19)
Love has arrived and become the blood in my skin and veins.
It has emptied me of my self, filling me with the Beloved.
Every part of my body is now occupied by the Beloved.
Only my name has been left to me.
He has become everything else.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #4, page 112.
The Situation (12/15/19)
I tried to describe the situation of my heart as I knew it.
The tears and blood of my heart had become rough,
but I couldn’t explain it. Continue reading
Death is Reaching Out to God (12/8/19)
There is a new life in death for the man of faith and justice.
From death, peace and calm come to clean souls.
Death is reaching out to God, not out to fear and cruelty.
The one who refuses to die with that death will die every day.
That is the greatest of all troubles.
Rubailer (2016), Page 101, #2.
I Will Keep Silent (12/1/19)
Just now, ruby-colored tears have started coming from my eyes.
A trace of Love’s dust never appears, but a sign has appeared from Love. Continue reading
Both Worlds Are Submerged in Him (11/24/19)
If you want the Beloved to show His face to you, turn inside.
Give up your flesh and walk to the Essence.
He is such an Essence
that He is surrounded by layers of curtains.
He is submerged in His own Being,
and both worlds are submerged in Him.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 1, page 97.
I Am Right Here (11/17/19)
“I don’t have anything to do with this.”
That’s what you said, looking quite sour.
Words like “vinegar is a nice condiment” were written all over your face. Continue reading
Nothing Except the Beloved (11/10/19)
“As long as I live, I won’t stray from the right way.”
I gave that oath to myself.
But later, I looked to my right, then to my left,
then to my right, then to my left.
Each time, I saw nothing except the Beloved.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #1, page 91.
Who Has… (11/3/19)
Who has seen a trace of that charmer?
In whose house is that full moon hidden?
Who has seen without eyes His Beauty?
Who has seen that world beyond this one? Continue reading
He Tells What He Sees (10/27/19)
O mortal, this is the Master of all the East.
This is the lightning from the cloud which scatters pearls.
Whatever you say is based on reasoning alone,
whereas He tells what he sees,
and that is the difference.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #4, page 70.
Two Opposite Bits of News (10/27/19)
A smile explains Your kindness.
Crying is a complaint about Your grief. Continue reading
That is the Sacrifice (10/13/19)
O heart, here you are, sitting in the middle of His sorrow.
To suffer is the cure. Do not complain. That is the order.
When you step on the head of your desire, your dog-self will be suffocated.
That is the sacrifice.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #1, page 73.
Look at Souls (10/6/19)
Clean souls ascend to the sky.
Turbid souls descend to the valley, are buried in the ground.
Open the eye of your soul and look at souls.
How did they get here?
What happens to them?
Where and how do they go? Continue reading
The Beloved is Inside of You (9/29/19)
O one who has been deceived by flesh, who doesn’t know His own essence, put your mind in your head.
The Beloved is inside of you.
Senses are the essence of the body. The essence of your senses is your soul.
If you go beyond body, senses and soul, everything is the Beloved.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #1, page 71.
The Only Way to Reach Eternity (9/22/19)
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. Continue reading
Not for Everyone (9/15/19)
Not everyone looks for You.
Nor do You ask that everyone does.
Not every mill wheel turns by the water coming from Your river.
Drawing a strong, tight bow is not for everyone.
For that, one has to be a hero.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #2, page 77.
“Why Don’t You Come, Too?” (9/8/19)
“O heart,” I said, “why are you like this?
How long will you be hanging around Love?
My heart answered, “Why don’t you come, too?
Wouldn’t it be nice if you came and tasted the pleasure of Love? Continue reading