“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
Death’s Majesty (8/25/19)
Love passes with the hope of tomorrow,
finishes needlessly with fights and struggles.
Assume your life is the day which you are living right now.
See how you spend it with all of your schemes and empty projects. Continue reading
My Religion (8/11/19)
Absence in Nothingness is my religion.
Annihilation from existence is what I worship.
I run towards the side of the Beloved with my feet,
but the green horse of the firmament is under my saddle.
In one breath, I leave hundreds of planets behind me.
Then, I turn back and see
that that was only one step of mine.
Why should I circle around the Earth?
The Beloved is inside of my sweet soul.
Shams of Tebriz, whom all saints praise,
has teeth which resemble sieen.*
They are my Ya Sin.**
*sieen A letter of the Arabic alphabet.
**Ya Sin The title of the sura (section) of the Quran (which has 114 suras). Quran XXXVI.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 9, Ghazal 25, verses 258-262, page 41.
You are the Antidote…You are the Bait (7/28/19)
What is life without You?
Life without You is forbidden.
Living without Your beautiful face is nothing but death,
that thing which was given the name, “life.” Continue reading
I Have No Constancy, No Peace (6/30/19)
He said, “I am the fire which burns you.”
I answered, “Yes, but Your Love and Your sun are in my heart.
“If I smell one rose without Your Love,
burn me right away like a thorn.” Continue reading
Anger (6/16/19)
If you keep getting angry on your journey,
your exuberance will soon fade away.
You will turn into cold ice. Continue reading
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
O one who holds the halter of time,
O one who opens the door of the paradise of meanings!
Your divinity is what makes everything appear and scatter.
Your world of appearances is the ladder of wishes. Continue reading
We have seen that time has no beginning of its beginning,
because we are the ones who have fallen in Love.
The others are merely spectators. Continue reading
Love is flying to the sky
and tearing hundreds of curtains.
Love is to be free from the self in the first breath,
to be lifted above the feet from the first step. Continue reading
O Kingdom of Love (4/21/19)
O Kingdom of Love which opens hearts in the world!
O one who has had good fortune, been honored
by the secret of “God does what He pleases!”
O the joy that is hidden in the torment of Love!
How wonderful, how wonderful is the Kingdom of Love! Continue reading
The Waves Become Exuberant (3/10/19)
Our heart feels good today,
because You drank its blood yesterday.
May it do You good. Continue reading
From the End to the Beginning (2/24/19)
We are brave, insolent revolutionaries
who play with our own lives.
It is a pity that this muddy flesh
is the peer of our pure, clean soul. Continue reading
Our Voices and Screams (2/10/19)
We have gone. Best wishes to the rest.
Those born here on this planet always die here.
The One who lives above
knows that falling rock will surely hit the ground. Continue reading
I am Happy on this Journey (1/27/19)
I have gone, so one less headache in this world.
I am free from suspense. I have saved my soul.
I said goodbye to the ones I hang out with.
Then, I carried my soul to the land where a trace never appears.
I moved out of this house of six doors,
and took all my belongs to the land of Absence.
I saw the hunting Sultan of the land of Absence.
I flew like an arrow and took my bow.
The club of death came to my side.
I snatched the ball of happiness from the middle.
An amazing moon reflected in my window.
I went to the roof, carrying a ladder.
The dome of that sky where souls are gathered
was much nicer than I used to think.
My rose branch is faded and withered.
I took it back to the rose garden.
Like a customer, I took my money and belongs
to the source of the mine.
I saw a world with no boundary in the land of Absence.
I took my black tent to that place.
Don’t cry for me. I am happy on this journey.
My road reached the place of the heavens.
Engrave these words on my tombstone:
I saved my head from troubles and trials.
O body, sleep nicely in this place.
I have taken your news to the skies.
Close your mouth.
I took all the wailing to the One who created the world.
From now on, don’t talk about the heart’s sorrow,
because I took my heart
to the One who knows all the secrets.
Divan-i Kebir, Volume 14, Gazel 132, Pages 29-30, Verses 1464-1479.
Don’t Even Think of “Two” (1/13/19)
I am such a lover that I have given up the road and everything that exists on the road,
because the only companion of the lover
is that exalted one person who has no beginning of the beginning. Continue reading
Come to the Source of Your Source (12/30/18)
How long will you be going backwards?
Come forward. Don’t stay with heresy. It is time to come to faith.
See poison as sherbet. Grab the poison.
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
You are on the Earth as a form.
But, you are the threat of the pearl of certainty.
You have become the custodian of the storage of God’s grace.
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
If you give yourself to ecstasy,
it is certain that you will be saved from yourself.
You have jumped out of the bonds of thousands of traps.
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
You came from the sperm of a prince.
Open your eyes to the truth of this ordinary world.
Pity how joyful you are.
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
Although you are a spell of the Earth,
You are a mine inside.
Open both your eyes.
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
You are the son of light and greatness.
You have an auspicious fate and good fortune.
How long will you be crying over illusory things?
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
You are a ruby, hidden among hard rocks.
How long will you be deceiving us?
O my friend, He appears to your eyes openly.
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
You come like that,
your beautiful eyes full of fire, drunk,
from the arms of the unruly Beloved,
At last, come to the Source of your source.
********
That cupbearer, Shams of Tebriz, is offering you a glass of the wine of immortality.
It is pure and clear.
“Glory be to God.”
At last, come to the Source of your source.
Divan-i Kebir, Meter 13, Gazel 7, Pages 13-15 Verses 79-96.
If This Were Not So (12/16/18)
Every moment, the Beloved’s kindness follows after sorrow.
If this were not so, no one could stand this suffering. Continue reading
What’s the Use of That? (12/2/18)
O player, play this music. Play this tune.
Alas for the ones who block the road!
Mercy especially for the one who waylays us on our road!
O player, you learned that other music from that other brigand,
because the student has the teacher’s accent. Continue reading
No One Is a Stranger There (11/18/18)
Every mind becomes confused when it sees Your face.
Every face is scratched by Your Absence.
I have become drunk because of Your reproach.
I don’t even know if Your pure wine is better than a sedimented one. Continue reading
The Dust Raised Up by Words (11/4/18)
Don’t give water to me. I want to be Your thirsty one.
Make me Your lover. Take away my sleep.
O One whose beautiful image has become the Mihrab* for me,
I will keep doing Namaz** every day and night. Continue reading
The Pleasure of Love (10/21/18)
Does the Earth’s honey taste sweet to the one
who has the pleasure of Love in his heart?
What can you do with the mind
which falls upside-down with only one glass of wine? Continue reading
Throw Away This Image (10/7/18)
The words which come from the soul are a curtain to the soul.
The fog which comes from the sea hides the coast and the pearls of that sea.
It is a great task to get involved in philosophical discourses.
But, the explanation is the curtain to the Sun of the Truth. Continue reading
Hundreds of Jars of Wine (9/23/18)
Your Love has made me drunk.
I am so drunk and out of myself that I keep clapping my hands.
How could I possibly know what I am doing? Continue reading
God’s Halter (9/9/18)
A small fox stealthily grabbed the fat tail of a lion and ran.
I wonder. Was the lion sleeping?
Surely that blind, lame fox couldn’t have saved his own life
if the lion had been awake! Continue reading
Leave Him Alone. Let Him Go. (8/26/18)
I yelled, “Where is that drunk heart going?”
The Sultan of sultans said,
“Be silent. He is coming to our side.” Continue reading
A New Life Altogether (8/12/18)
O one who has flown out from this narrow cage,
O one who has gone to the heights of the sky,
From now on, you are starting a new life altogether.
What is this aimless life? Continue reading
God’s Light (7/15/18)
The falcon said to the goose, “The valley is beautiful.”
“Have a good night,” answered the goose, then continued,
“This place is much better for me. Continue reading
Suffering and the Cure (7/1/18)
Who is the one who is not a servant, a slave of Your order?
Who is the one who is not drunk after seeing Your face?
Show me someone who is in trouble whose trouble is not Yours.
Or, show me a joy which has been created without Your hope. Continue reading
So That’s That (6/17/18)
Tonight, take my soul completely from this poor body.
Take it out, so I will have no name, no fame in this world. Continue reading
The Shrill Pipe of Love (6/3/18)
You are coming our way. You are a decent person.
We are also nice.
In appearance we look like fire,
but we are the Fountain of Life for you.
You are a small pigeon. You were born in this nest.
If you don’t come this way on your own, we will pull you by force.
Be in our temple. We are in the temple of that Beauty,
becoming drunk on His wine, the wine that comes only from Him.
We stand at our place like a mountain, but we flow like a torrent.
We keep silent like that, but sometimes yell and scream like thunder.
Although like fate we kill people for no reason,
you have a soul that resembles the sea.
Put it in your palm and come to us.
Our part of ownership of these five senses is only a short five days.
But, there are six dimensions and we are a sultan in each one of them.
We are following the shrill pipe of Love.
Our breath is sharp. Our voice caresses the soul,
because we keep playing the vessel of the soul, crying for you.
You concern yourself with the matters of Love.
If you are sincere, don’t look for a bed and a pillow.
We have welcomed this illness caused by our desire to reach the Mine.
We haven’t welcomed it out of love for a bed and pillow.
The light of the sky, the praise of Tebriz is our Shamseddin.
Because of that Sun, our insides have turned out to be the sky
and the self has become the Moon.
Divan-i Kebir, Meter 10, Gazel 71, Verses 749-757, Pages 155-156.