Being in God’s Vicinity (5/24/2020)
This solitude is better than the company of thousands.
This freedom is sweeter than owning the whole world.
Being in God’s vicinity for even a short time
is worth more than the soul, more than the universe,
more than all of this, more than all of that.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #4, page 167.
Your Scent (5/10/2020)
Once I got a tiny whiff of Your scent,
I was forced to go Your way.
My color and scent were stolen by Yours.
I was annihilated in the end, so nothing was left of me,
not even a scent. No scent. Nothing.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #3, page 175.
How Could Such Qualities Be Mixed? (4/26/2020)
A human is made by mixing opposite materials.
His shape is drawn on the table of sorrow.
His clay is carved by grief.
Sometimes he is an angel, sometimes a devil.
How could such qualities be mixed?
Rubailer (2016), Rubai 242, page 168, #3.
This is the Day of Joy (4/12/2020)
This is the day of joy. Why should we be sad?
Today, we should drink wine from the cup of loyalty.
How long will we expect our sustenance
to be from a bread-maker, a water-carrier?
This is the time to be eating and drinking
from the hand of God.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #4, page 205.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Since we see others, we are not one anymore.
We are in the business of the many.
We identify good and bad, and that is where the trouble starts.
A heart which has not reached ecstasy
will keep getting kicked by the other.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #3, page 64.
Don’t Open the Door of Thought (8/18/19)
Like every other day, we are desperately in Love today.
Don’t open the door of thought.
Play the rebab whose sound makes us forget everything.
There are a hundred different prayers
for the one whose alter is the face of the Beloved.
Rubailer (2016), Rubia #4, page 46.
I am Absent (8/4/19)
He is inside and outside of my heart.
He is the soul of my body.
He is my blood and my veins.
How could faith or heresy fit here?
I am absent. He is all of my existence.
Rubailer (2016), page 68, Rubai #4
I Did Not Recognize Who I Was (7/21/19)
At first, like others, I preferred being my self.
Although I was aware of my existence, I did not comprehend my being.
Because I could not see, I did not recognize who I was.
I was merely hearing my name.
Finally, and only when I went out of myself completely, I saw my real being.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #4, page 45.
Bravo to Our Powers and Abilities! (7/7/19)
Sometimes , the angels are jealous of our purity.
Sometimes, the devil is afraid of our recklessness.
Our clay body carries God’s gift.
Bravos to our power and abilities!
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #3, page 43.
Please Do Me a Favor! (6/23/19)
I was heart and soul without a body before… pure, clean, pleasant.
You built my body as a guest house and put my soul in it.
O my Master, please, do me a favor!
Pardon me. Recreate me as You did before. Bring me back to life.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #2, Page 44.
All the World’s Sorrows (6/9/19)
My Beloved whose scattered hair makes everyone confused,
whose sweet ruby lips scatter sugar and honey,
that Beloved asked me, “Are you sorry about our separation?”
I answered, “O my soul, so much so that all the world’s sorrows are in that sorry.”
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #3, page 33.
Once life is ended, God gives another life, a different one.
If this temporary life is annihilated, here is the permanent one:
Love is the Water of Life. Plunge into it.
There is new life in every drop of that sea.
Rubailer (2016), Rubai #3, Page 42.
Love for You has killed Turks as well as Arabs.
We are slaves and servants to those martyrs, those generals.
Love for You is saying, “No one escapes Me. I own all souls.”
He is right, O heart. Quit playing.
Rubailer (2016), Page 40, Rubai #4.
I don’t have any friend except Love.
Love was with me before I came into this world, and Love is still with me.
My soul yells, “O lazy one on Love’s way, come on.
Hurry up. Reach me.”
Rubailer I2016), Rubai #1, Page 38.
Reach Me (4/28/19)
First, He pampered me with a thousand favors.
Then, He burned me with a thousand troubles.
He played with me as if I was nothing more than dice in His game of Love.
But, when I died from myself and became Him, He finally threw me out.
Rubailar (2016), Rubai #3, page 31.
The Summit of His Sorrow (3/17/19)
Nothing, not even rose or basil had helped me.
I said to myself, “Be silent. His bow doesn’t match my shield.”
Then, I was shot from that bow like a three-winged arrow.
Even so, I reached the summit of His sorrow without the help of those three wings!
Rubailar. Rubai #2, Page 223.