With the wings of Your heart,
You flew to this desert plain of existence,
which melted in the greatness of Your heart’s expanse.
What is this small plain in comparison with Your heart?
All seven layers of the sky
are only the open palm of Your hand.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1305, page 199.
You are invisible to me,
because these eyes can still see only shapes and colors.
Even so, I cannot take my heart away from You.
You are soul, my sweet soul.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1304, page 198.
All this conniving for Your Love
has gotten me nothing.
I have shed bloody tears,
but my suffering has gotten me nothing.
I have found no relief from this pain.
But, how could anyone help?
All my troubles are nothing.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1298, page 195.
Why does this dark sorrow blindly entwine my heart?
Is it blind, or does it see blindness in me?
I am in the heights of the sky.
This clay and water body of mine is merely my reflection.
Who could look at a star in the water
and think they could just reach out and take it?
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1290, page 191.
Who is more miserable than an impatient lover?
There is no cure for Love’s sickness.
Goodness and badness don’t help the sorrow of Love.
There is neither fidelity nor cruelty in real, true Love.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1272, page 182.
There is a place beyond faith and heresy
which is not for all the ones
who are just starting out young and fresh.
There is a price to be paid:
One has to give up one’s life and sacrifice one’s heart.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1271, page 182.
I said to the night,
“If you are in love with the moon which enlightens you,
why do you pass through so quickly?
That is no good. It shows disloyalty,
this lack of respect for the moon.”
Night turned its face towards me and protested,
“It is not my fault. There is no end to Love.”
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1255, page 174.
O soul, do you know who your Beloved is?
O heart, do you know who your guest is?
O body which is using every trick to escape,
do you know who is pulling you?
Look and see. He is the one who is searching for you.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1252, page 172.
O Beloved, there is the one who is awake and aware of You.
There is the one who falls asleep
and stays sleeping in the arms of Your grace.
But, in Your universe,
everything and everyone, visible or not, is You.
I am afraid to say more.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Rubai 1244, Volume 3, page 168.
O one who is overcome by his ignorant self
and who doesn’t want to take lessons from others,
all your goodness was limited by leaving a cup next to the fountain.
All you wanted was for the townspeople to drink water
in a toast to your health.
The Rubaiyat of Rumi, The Ergin Translations, Volume 3, rubai 1243, page 168.